November 2025 Volume 7

INDUSTRY NEWS

their fathers and grandfathers.” Unfortunately, our governor’s sentiment is too late for many if not most of these lost men. Hands On the Future: Everyday Heroes Reconnecting the Pipeline The darkness of the education and workforce crises is dotted with hundreds of tiny lights of hope. All across the U.S. there are teachers who are reconnecting the skilled trades education pipeline by bringing back industrial arts in shop class. I found 44 programs that have been featured in local newspapers and the national press. Every school had a story that spoke of hope, healing, joy, and an optimistic view of the future of skilled trades. These are stories of hero-teachers who turned around the lives of middle school students, their school, and their community through industrial arts. Here are just a couple of highlights from my research: Woodshop Has Been Disappearing From Schools For Decades. One Bay Area Teacher is Bringing it Back.

about the manipulation of your fingers and your hands that makes the brain kick in and they start getting involved in what they're doing," Franks said. Human interaction is key in Dave Franks's class."When the students come in my door, they put their cell phones on the table," Franks said. "There is science in the class, there is math in there, there's communication, language arts, listening, speaking, working together. Franks sees himself as much a motivator and an instructor

and coach. "My message to the student is there is so much more in you. You can do more than you think you can do," Franks said. Dave Franks believes the heart is happiest when the head and the hands work together. "I get this feeling of accomplishment, passing on the information I have to another generation and then they can pass it on. There is nothing greater than that," Franks said. xv

Reactive vs. Proactive CTE Funding Since 1917, federal funding has been allocated to Career and Technical Education. In each decade since the Smith-Hughes

It took a grassroots campaign by Valley View Middle School teacher Nicole Manasewitch to revitalize the schools’s once popular elective. Despite leading English and history classes last year, she wanted to offer an alternative, more active subject that would help connect youth to the trades within the Mt. Diablo Unified School District. Manasweitch signed up for adult education courses on woodworking and switched assignments, which allowed her to teach with her existing credentials within the district. She spent months networking

Act was passed into law, additional legislation for CTE has expanded in light of industrial developments and societal changes. Yet many programs adopted and provided for skilled trades education is reactive not proactive. There are more

programs in place for students 16 – 24 years old than for students 10 – 13 years old. For example, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) provides services to students who, “face barriers to education, training, and employment.” xvi However, as statistics show, the greatest barrier to these opportunities is illiteracy. Serving students who have dropped out of school, or need reentry assistance after incarceration, is needed, but these scenarios could be avoided by funding proactive programs that provide younger students with life skills and hands-on education experience that could help them avoid serious pitfalls. The proof is in the numbers: “The average high school graduation rate for students concentrating in CTE programs is 95.8%.” xvii Former State Superintendent, Michael Rice said, “CTE students acquire skills that prepare them for successful career entry, advancement, and/or continuing educating – including college – for high-wage, high-demand careers.” Why wait to provide the education that students need earlier in their development? Ambiguity in Funding Won’t Reconnect the Severed STEP In a quest to reenergize CTE programs, Governor Whitmer announced that the State of Michigan would invest $125 million over five years, add up to 250 programs in “CTE deserts,” and deliver CTE opportunities to an additional 32,000 students. This added funding sounds promising, but where is the money going? At our local community college in Lansing, skilled trades classes such as welding and CNC machining are

with local woodworking clubs, rotary groups, retired teachers, and even supply stores to collect enough tools, funding and mentorship to revive the program by the first day of school when roughly 100 students enrolled in the four inaugural woodshop sections. “The kids just love it – these kinds of hands-on programs are really where I can see them just light up with excitement.” xiii The Schools Reviving Shop Class Offer a Hedge Against the AI Future About 150 students at Sutherlin High School in Sutherlin, Ore., take Josh Gary’s woodworking class, a number equal to nearly half the student body. When Gary took over the shop class in 2014, he had 30 students and little equipment. He bought used tools on Craigslist with his own money and raised funds selling picnic tables he made with students. The wood shop now features laser cutters and computer assisted routers that enable high-level detail work. Last year, Sutherlin High opened a $750,000 metal shop. A $375,000 state grant paid for new tools, and $50,000 from Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, a program launched by the tool-retailer’s founder, bought a pickup truck for use by the classes. Gary likes to joke that he is a shop teacher who never took shop. When he was in high school during the late 1990s, he said, his father wouldn’t let him enroll. He went to college and law school but decided to teach. xiv Everyday Hero Dave Franks Volunteers to Teach Shop Class in Brighton After a career as a builder, Franks got an idea."I thought about it. You know, wood shop would be awesome for this school because they haven't had it for 20 some years here," Franks said. "There's something

FIA MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2025 44