AWFS Fair 2023

WCA EDU Members to Present Five Sessions of AWFS Fair Teacher Track

Patrick Molzahn, the first person to earn a Diamond woodworking credential, from the Woodwork Career Alliance, will kick off the Teachers Track education sessions at the AWFS Fair.

Woodworking instructors affiliated with Woodwork Career Alliance of North America institutions will share their knowledge and expertise in five of the seven education sessions slated for the Teacher Track at the AWFS Fair in Las Vegas.

The Teacher Track’s sessions cover a variety of topics including woodworking techniques, safety, and curriculum development.

Here’s a quick look at the Teacher Track schedule. (WCA-led session titles are bold faced.)

1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m. Tuesday, July 25
How to Keep Your Keester Out of Court (and Other Tips from a Veteran Educator)
Patrick Molzahn, long-time former director of the Madison College Cabinetmaking & Millwork program, and founding member of the WCA Board of Directors, will reflect on experiences he’s had in his 25 years of teaching. The focus will be on how to create and maintain a safe learning environment. Molzahn will also cover numerous resources teachers can access, including benefits available to WCA EDUcation members.

3:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday, July 25
Marketing Your Program — Are You Getting Anyone’s Attention?
Mark Smith, woodworking instructor of Reed-Custer High School, a WCA EDUcation member, will explain why and how woodworking teachers should market their programs. His presentation will cover how promotions can facilitate program supporters, industry partners, internship opportunities, career exploration, technical support, field trips and more.

9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Wednesday, July 26
Shop Safety in Education
Reuben Foat of the Cerritos College Wood Manufacturing Department, a WCA EDUcation member, will discuss how to keep students safe and enhance their classroom safety instruction.

11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Wednesday, July 26
Teacher Project Swap
Jordan Clarke of Palamar College will facilitate a discussion among peers aimed at sharing ideas for inspiring student projects.

9:30 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. Thursday, July 27
Building Trades into Education: Bridging the Skills Gap Through Collaboration
Molly Turner and Peter Lutz are two of three WCA EDUcation woodworking instructors that are part of a unique multi school district collaborative in Southwest Colorado. They will discuss how their partnership has led to innovative projects, improved student outcomes, and increased visibility for their respective programs.

1:30 p.m. to 3:00 p.m.
Teaching and Evaluating the Wood Industry’s Skill Standards
Greg Larson, vice president of the WCA, will discuss how schools can implement the WCA Passport credentialing system. His presentation will how to incorporate the WCA Skill Standards into a woodshop program’s curriculum and practical methods to evaluate students’ skills.

1:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Thursday, July 27
Teacher CNC Training Workshop
Christian Correa, John Kelly, and Wesley Crawford will present a crash course on how to introduce CAD and CNC machining to students in their woodshop programs.

Learn more about the AWFS Fair College of Woodworking Knowledge.

 

 

 

 

 

President’s Message: WCA Membership Grows Amid Board Changes

I hope 2023 is continuing to be a prosperous year for all. For WCA, 2023 is starting out with much of the same enthusiasm that we experienced last year when we enrolled a record 1,400 potential future employees in the WCA Passport Credentialing Program. We are once again on a record pace through the first two months of the year. I feel our education systems are finally recognizing there are valuable careers in the secondary wood processing industry and as a result, WCA EDUcation member programs are attracting greater numbers of students.

We’ll be looking to build our support with the woodworking industry this July at the AWFS Fair in Las Vegas. The WCA will offer a 3-hour workshop focused on providing information that companies can use to set up an in-house training program. We will also cover training resources that are available to WCA members as well as how to go about evaluating your employees’ progress.

Plans are also in the works for the WCA to conduct a workshop for woodworking teachers. The workshop will explain how to implement the WCA’s Skill Standards and Credentialing Program so that students can be evaluated to earn their Sawblade certificate and Core credential.

Through the support of our sponsors, WCA is offering financial assistance through our newly named Greg Heuer EDUcation Scholarship Fund to help EDUcation member instructors defray the cost of attending the AWFS Fair. Click here to apply for the scholarship. The WCA Education Committee will select qualifying scholarship recipients who apply by April 30.

On a personal note, I want to welcome Bruce Bagnall, construction teacher of Bowness High School of Calgary, Alberta, and John Stearns, Career Technical Education Director at Amity School District of Amity, Ore., to the WCA Board of Directors. I also want to extend my heartfelt appreciation to three colleagues who have retired from the board. Duane Griffiths, Greg Heuer and Mick McGowan each provided years of dedicated service and a multitude of contributions not only to the WCA, but to the North American woodworking industry as well.

Good luck to one and all!

Scott Nelson
President
Woodwork Career Alliance of North America
snelsonwca@gmail.com

Welcome New Members & Sponsors!


The Woodwork Career Alliance of North America is pleased to welcome the following new members and renewing sponsors.

Thank you for your membership and support!

New EDUcation™ Members
Gilbratar Secondary School – Fish Creek, WI
Potosi High School – Potosi, WI
Rochester High School – Rochester Hills, MI
Southern Door County High School – Brussels, WI

Find WCA EDUcation™ woodworking programs in your area.

New MANufacturing™ Members
Joseph A Interiors – DePere, WI
Koetter Woodworking – Borden, IN

MANufacturing™ Member Renewal
Allegeheny Millwork – Lawrence, PA

INDustry™ Gold Sponsor Renewal
Kerfkore
– Brunswick, GA

New INDustry™ Gold Sponsor
Brown Wood Products – Lincolnwood, IL

New Silver Sponsor
PaintLine – Menlo Park, CA

INDustry™ Silver Sponsor Renewals
Deerwood Fasteners
— Conover, NC
Eagle Mouldings— Loretto, MN
IMA-Schelling Group
— Morrisville, NC

View all WCA INDustry™ Sponsors & Supporters

Learn more about the benefits of becoming a WCA sponsor.

Fox Valley Technical College Wood Manufacturing Technology program

How Fox Valley Tech Preps Students for Woodworking Careers

Fox Valley Technical College Wood Manufacturing Technology program

Mark Lorge, left, and Glenn Koerner are the instructors of Fox Valley Technical College’s Wood Manufacturing Technology program.

The Wood Manufacturing Technology program at Fox Valley Technical Center (FVTC) in Oshkosh, Wis., has a rich 41-year tradition of graduating students ready to embark on successful careers.

The nationally-recognized program also has a long affiliation with the Woodwork Career Alliance of North America.

Jerry Finch, who established FVTC’s woodworking program in 1982, was a founding member of the WCA Board of Directors in 2007. Finch served as lead woodworking instructor at FVTC until he retired in 2006. Since then, the program has been led by Mark Lorge, who worked alongside Finch beginning in 1995. Today, Lorge is ably assisted by Glenn Koerner, who came on board after Finch departed.

About FVTC’s Woodworking Program
Fox Valley’s woodworking program is an immersive program that meets all day, five days a week for a full year. The goal is to make sure that the students who earn their Technical Diploma have the knowledge and skills to jump-start their careers.

Students are trained to safely use everything from portable power tools and classic woodworking equipment through programming and operating CNC machinery. They also learn how to read blueprints, maintain tools and work as part of a team.

“We take a tag team approach,” Lorge says. “Glenn and I are interchangeable throughout the course. We both bring different experiences to the course, so our students go out with a well-rounded knowledge of the industry. We start out with the very basics. We show how a table can make a rip cut, cross cut, dado, rabbet, miter or a bevel. We then explain how to use a table saw for joinery purposes and how it can actually be used as the only machine to create a piece of furniture.

“Every unit builds on the previous unit,” Lorge continues. “As we get deeper into it, we start looking at processes. While our program is initially instruction-driven, the students take that knowledge we’ve given them to do a specific activity. As we progress throughout the year, the course becomes less instructor driven and more student driven. They apply the knowledge that they have learned doing activities and extrapolating that knowledge into building something that is more complex.”

“We really try to mimic what it’s like to be in a cabinet shop so that the students get an idea of the pace and what it’s like to work all day long in this environment,” Koerner says. “They’ll run into roadblocks where someone might be on the machine they want to use, so they’ll have to redirect themselves, stay on task and find a different process to work on. In our program outcomes, we help students learn to anticipate process errors and take corrective actions. I think that’s an important part of what students learn here. Something might go wrong and you have to figure how to recover from that and turn it into something positive. I think the pace and the environment really sets the student up for what to expect when they graduate and start their first job in the industry.”

Koerner adds that safety training in a core component of the program. “A big part about safety is teaching them where the dangers lie so that they don’t put themselves in a bad situation.”

A Wood Products Powerhouse
Oshkosh is located in east central Wisconsin, about 80 miles northwest of Milwaukee. The area is a veritable powerhouse of wood products manufacturing. The wood supply chain stretches from hardwood timber harvesting and sawmilling through a plethora of secondary woodworking companies of all sizes and types.

FVTC students tour Concept Works,

FVTC students toured Concept Works, giving them an opportunity to see the inner workings of a custom wood products company.

“The state of Wisconsin has such a wide variety of opportunities in secondary wood processing,” Lorge notes. “The last I heard the state has around 50,000 people employed in this industry. There’s everything from cabinets and furniture to yachts and aircraft interiors, plus commercial restaurant interiors, windows and doors, and more. Most of that variety is within 30 miles of where we are. Because there are so many diverse opportunities, we really try to give our students a broad-based education so that they can choose where they want to go and still make a positive impact for their employer.”

Lorge and Koerner, building on Finch’s pioneering work, continually cultivate new and strengthen existing relationships with local wood product companies. The most obvious beneficiary of these efforts are the students who can each count on receiving multiple job opportunities upon graduating.

Examples of FVTC’s relationships with industry include:

  • The program is vetted by a 14-member advisory panel, mainly made up of representatives of small and large woodworking companies, plus industry suppliers. The board’s input helps ensure that the program’s curriculum remains in alignment with industry’s needs.
  • Lorge has been a member of the Wisconsin Chapter of the Architectural Woodwork Institute since 2009. AWI membership provides regular networking opportunities with representatives of woodworking companies and suppliers, and also helps keep Fox Valley Technical College top of mind as a go-to-source for well=trained woodworkers ready to hit the ground running.
  • Over the years, FVTC has received a treasure trove of donations including exotic veneers, hardwood plywood and other valuable materials that allows the program to stretch its supply budget.
  • There is no shortage of companies willing to provide tours of their shops to students. Last fall, FVTC students toured ConceptWorks, a manufacturer of architectural millwork, retail fixtures and showroom and trade show displays based in Elkhart Lake, Wis.

“ConceptWorks is just one of many great manufacturers who have opened their doors for our students to tour over the years,” Lorge says. “We have also toured other high-end architectural woodwork shops such as T.J. Hale and Glen Rieder, as well as hardwood lumber mills like Kretz Lumber and Granite Valley Forest Products, and tooling suppliers Vortex and Great Lakes Custom Tool. We’ve also visited Gulf Stream Aviation, which makes custom wood interiors for private jets, and Burger Boats. It’s a really eye-opening experience for our students to go to a place that makes ultra=luxury yachts. One of our graduates is working on a bed for a yacht that is a quarter of million dollars.”

Lorge adds, “Students come to our program thinking they are going to make kitchen cabinets. These tours make them aware that there are lots of opportunities.”

Hands-on, High-Tech Open House
Just as industry looks to FVTC to recruit graduates, FVTC looks to area high school programs for potential new students.

Since 1988, the FTVC Wood Manufacturing Technology program has hosted its Hands-on, High Tech open house. This year’s event is scheduled for April 18 and 19.

“We have had upwards of 700 students come through our woodworking lab over the two days,” Lorge says. “We’re in the process of inviting around 275 instructors from every high school within about a 100-mile radius of Oshkosh. My goal is 1,000 students.”

Fox Valley Technical College Hands-on, High-Tech open house

Every year, FTVC hosts hundreds of area high school students at its Hands-on, High-Tech open house.

“Each group that comes through is greeted by Glenn, who gives them a quick overview of our program and what they can expect to happen for the day,” Lorge says. “Then we will lead them on a tour where they actually make a finished product that they can take home. Last year we made a desk lamp.

“The first stop for the product we plan to make is an Altendorf sliding table saw that the vast majority of high schools don’t have,” Lorge continues. “These students are going to look at this saw and go, ‘Wow!’ Our students will do a demonstration and then put a student on it and safely guide him or her through the operation. They’ll make a few cuts and then they’ll go to the next station.

“It’s really fun to watch how our students’ confidence levels grow throughout the two days. At first, they are usually not comfortable talking to groups. But by the end of the second day our students have gone in a straight upward incline and realize that they know what they are talking about. The confidence boost that our students get is immeasurable. It’s one more thing that helps make them ready for their first job.”

Speaking of graduates taking their place in the woodworking industry, Koerner tells this story.

“We ran into a graduate at IWF last year who was with the owner of the company and also another person on her team. She said something that left a lump in mine and I think Mark’s throats. It was really touching. She said, ‘Prior to taking your program I was sweeping the shop floor and now after taking the program I’m supervising the shop floor.’ She said she learned so much from the program that it really advanced her career and it was touching for both Mark and I to hear that and how much impact we had on her life and her career.”

“It’s really nice for us to be recognized for the quality of the students that we are putting out,” Lorge adds. “Out reputation is all we have and we work really hard to protect it.”

Learn more about Fox Valley Technical College’s Wood Manufacturing Technology program.

Kettle Moraine Students Win on the Gridiron and in the Woodshop

Kettle Moraine Lasers 2022 Football/WCA Sawblade

Nate Morgan, left, Asst. Coach and Woodworking Instructor Carl Grunewald, Adam Rife, Will Brown, Coach David Trafton, and Chase Spellman (back row) celebrate Kettle Moraine’s Wisconsin #2 State Football Championship. All of these students, plus dozens of their teammates, have succcessfully completed their WCA Sawblade Certificates.,

In the annals of prep school football history, Kettle Moraine High School is the first to have a quarterback to lead his team to a state title, receive All-State honors, and earn a Sawblade Certificate from the Woodwork Career Alliance of North America.

All three of these feats were accomplished last year by Chase Spellman, who helped guide the Kettle Moraine Lasers to a 27-10 victory over the West De Pere Redbirds in the Wisconsin’s 2022 Division 2 Championship game. Spellman, who earned his Sawblade Certificate last May, is in good company. Thirty-two of his teammates have also successfully completed their WCA skills training during their tenures at Kettle Moraine High School in Wales, Wis. One dozen of the champion Lasers were among the 49 students who attained their WCA Sawblade Certificates last fall.

As a technology education instructor and assistant coach of the Kettle Moraine varsity football team, Carl Grunewald got to celebrate the students’ achievements in the woodshop and on the gridiron. While he’ll have to wait until the start of the 2023-24 academic year to help prepare the Lasers to defend their state title, Grunewald is geared up to help another class of students earn their Sawblade Certificates this spring.

Popular Woodworking
The record number of Sawblade Certificates that were awarded in the fall speaks volumes about the high school woodworking program’s commitment to teaching students industry best-practices structured around the WCA Skill Standards. The numbers also attest to the popularity of woodworking as an elective of choice for Kettle Moraine students.

“Our woodshop program is one of the most popular on campus,” Grunewald says. “It’s certainly the most popular within our department.”

Grunewald currently teaches about 60 students spread across three Woods Design & Fabrication 1 classes. About 30% of the students are freshmen with the remainder being pretty much evenly split among the other three grade levels. While the Woods 1 classes are geared toward teaching beginning level woodworking, they are much more intensive than one might think.

“Because of our school’s block schedule, students are in woodworking class for 85 minutes a day, five days a week,” Grunewald says. “The block schedule is really nice because they can get a lot more done than they would if we had the typical 45 minutes a day for class time especially when you consider set up and clean up can cut into about 15 minutes of each day’s class. With the blocks, students are actually taking a full year of woodworking in one semester.”

The project-based course is structured around the Woodwork Career Alliance Skill Standards. Students are exposed to the design process, product development and production. They also learn fabrication processes and equipment operation while designing and producing wood products individually or in teams. In addition to classic woodworking equipment, the high school’s woodshop has a CNC router, 3D printer and laser engraver. As the students learn how to safely set up and operate a table saw, planer and other popular woodworking equipment, the they have the opportunity to work toward achieving their WCA Sawblade Certificate.

Grunewald’s colleague Scott Bruening teaches the Wood Design & Fabrication 2 class for students looking to take their woodworking skills to the next level. In addition to covering more advanced tool and equipment operations, students learn how to develop a detailed bill of materials and work on larger scale construction projects. Both instructors are WCA Accredited Skill Evaluators.

“Because we only have one woodshop in the building running four blocks every day, we would have to add a second woodshop if we wanted to add a Woods 3 or other classes,” Grunewald notes.

Isaiah David was awarded his WCA Sawblade Certificate last spring and is now enrolled in Woods II..

About Woods 1 Projects
The first hands-on project Woods 1 students tackle is making a key rack using only hand tools with the exception of operating a drill press. “This allows me to kind of see where everyone is at and the kids get an understanding of wood as a material,” Grunewald says. “I always tell them that woodworking is a practiced patience. They’ll learn by sanding something by hand or by cutting a piece of wood with a coping saw, then filing it that you have to take your time with this.”

Students are introduced to more power equipment for their second project. They learn how to use a bandsaw, router table, belt sander and drum sander to make a push stick out of plywood.

“After that they do the WCA widget board,” Grunewald says. “That’s where I introduce the table saw, miter saw, planer and jointer. I just introduce a little bit of equipment setup and operation at a time for reasons of safety.”

Next up, students learn the glue-up process by making a cutting board. They proceed to making a wooden box with a sliding top. “This teaches them how to do glued-up parts with rabbets, put in kerfs, and add the sliding top and bottom during assembly.”

“The final project is what I call an office organizer,” Grunewald says. “It’s a stand for their cell phone, head phones, jewelry and other things like that. “They do dadoes, they rabbet, and learn more about glue-up process.”

During the course of all of these learning steps, students are individually evaluated on the safe and successful set-up and operation of core equipment required to earn their Sawblade Certificates.

“The certificate is a culmination of everything they learned,” Grunewald says. “We don’t do exams per se, the test itself is kind of like the final exam.”

“We know that most of the kids in our program are planning on going to a four-year college. Still, a lot of them realize that might not be their path, that they might want to do something else,” Grunewald says. “Getting a certificate is an important accomplishment for their personal growth. It shows that their skills have been assessed based on industry standards and that they know how use machinery properly. Even if they go into a different trade than woodworking, the certificate shows an employer that this person is trainable. That’s a big advantage.”

Woodwork Career Alliance Welcomes Two New Board Members

LINCOLN, Neb. – The Woodwork Career Alliance of North America is pleased to announce the appointments of John Stearns and Brad Bagnall to the WCA Board of Directors.

John Stearns

Both Stearns, Career Technical Education Director at Amity School District of Amity, Ore.; and Bagnall, a construction teacher at Bowness High School of Calgary, Alberta, were appointed to three-year terms on the not-for-profit’s board. They succeed Greg Heuer, Duane Griffiths and Mick McGowan who have all retired.

Stearns returned to the Amity School District in 2020 after serving two years as the lead instructor of the MiLL in Colorado Springs, Colo. Stearns and Amity High School joined the WCA as an EDUcation member around 2014. He is a WCA Accredited Skill Evaluator.

“I use the WCA standards as part of my safety training with students. I am OSHA-10 and OSHA-30 authorized to train- but the measurable tool safety tool standards are more user friendly for the instructor and student,” Stearns said. “I look forward to serving on the WCA Board. I hope I can be an effective sounding board as a high school instructor.”

Bagnall and Bowness High School joined the WCA as an EDUcation member in 2016. He has since become a WCA Accredited Skill Evaluator. “The biggest benefit to being a WCA EDU member is having access to up-to-date learning and teaching resources that I use often in my construction technology and trades classes. The widgets for teaching real application of measurement tasks are appropriate and adaptable for my classes in a meaningful way. The WCA assessment checklists make project development in my classes interesting as students can see the specific skills they will learn and demonstrate while working with tools needed to build their projects.”

Brad Bagnall

Brad Bagnall

Bagnall said he hopes to expand the WCA’s presence in Canadian High School construction and skilled trade-related courses. “I have worked as an Accredited Skill Evaluator in partnership with my employer, the Calgary Board of Education and Southern Alberta Institute of Technology to offer WCA Skill Training courses for our school instructors. I hope to broaden these partnerships and continue to offer training sessions to educators. Being a part of the WCA Board of Directors allows for more networking capabilities with industry and I am excited to explore additional opportunities to bolster the WCA in Canada.”

“On behalf of the WCA, I want to thank Greg, Duane and Mick for their years of dedicated service and many important contributions to helping the WCA develop new programs and grow its membership,” said Scott Nelson, president of the WCA. “We wish them all the very best in their future endeavors.

“I also want to thank John and Brad for volunteering to become WCA board members,” Nelson added. “They each bring a lot of experience, not only as woodworking instructors, but for having a working knowledge of how the WCA skill standards and credentialing program work. They each have the unique vantage point to help us improve our existing programs and develop new programs for schools and industry.”

About the Woodwork Career Alliance
The Woodwork Career Alliance of North America was founded in 2007 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and is governed by a volunteer board of directors. The WCA’s mission is to develop and administer a unified set of Skill Standards for the wood products industry. Since 2011, WCA has developed observable and measurable performance standards and assessments for more than 300 woodworking machine operations. In addition, WCA has issued over 5,000 Passport credentials, a portable, personal permanent record documenting each holder’s record of woodworking skill achievements. More than 160 high schools and post-secondary schools throughout North America are WCA EDUcation™ members and a growing number of woodworking companies have joined the WCA as MANufacturing™ members. To learn more about the WCA and how to get involved with its programs, including sponsorship opportunities, visit WoodworkCareer.org.

IWF Donates $12,500 to MiLL Training Program

In its first donation of the year to an industry organization, the International Woodworking Fair has announced a $12,500 contribution to the Manufacturing Industry Learning Lab (MiLL) in Colorado Springs, CO. The MiLL is an EDUcation member of the Woodwork Career Alliance of North America.

The unrestricted donation is for the advancement of its mission to promote a stronger trade workforce in Colorado, IWF officials said. MiLL exists to expand opportunities for learners and offer students trade career paths in cabinet manufacturing, construction technology and welding technology.

“IWF has long championed education, innovation and talent development as key forces powering the wood products industry’s future,” said Andreas Muehlbauer, Stiles Machinery Executive Vice President and IWF 2022 Show Chair. It is part of its overall efforts, including the IWF Education Conference, the IWF Challengers Distinguished Achievement Award and the IWF Design Emphasis Student Furniture Design competition.

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The unrestricted donation is for the advancement of its mission to promote a stronger trade workforce in Colorado, IWF officials said. MiLL exists to expand opportunities for learners and offer students trade career paths in cabinet manufacturing, construction technology and welding technology.

“IWF has long championed education, innovation and talent development as key forces powering the wood products industry’s future,” said Andreas Muehlbauer, Stiles Machinery Executive Vice President and IWF 2022 Show Chair. It is part of its overall efforts, including the IWF Education Conference, the IWF Challengers Distinguished Achievement Award and the IWF Design Emphasis Student Furniture Design competition.

President’s Message: 2022 Was One for the Books!

2022 has been a record-breaking year for WCA!

We have entered over 1,400 candidates into the Passport credentialing program during this calendar year and have issued 955 credentials. We also have more than 60 candidates currently in the testing process.

While it has taken a while for the program to start having a meaningful effect on producing qualified candidates for our industry, the future is definitely showing promise. Not only are we issuing more Passports and credentials, we have also added more schools as EDUcation members and are pleased to see more high schools add woodworking programs to their curricula. As a great example, check out the story about West Henderson High School’s woodworking program in this issue of Pathways.

Duane Griffith

I am very saddened that WCA will be losing one of our founding board members to retirement at the end of this year. Duane Griffith has been with us since the beginning and was a strong supporter and contributor to the development of the WCA Woodwork Manufacturing Skill Standards. Duane will become our newest Board of Director Emeritus and he will always be “Mr. Education” to me! The entire WCA Board wishes Duane nothing but the best.

IWF was a great success for WCA! With the support or the Woodworking Machinery Industry Association and Woodworking Machinery Manufacturers of America, IWF’s organizers, the Silent Auction raised over $2,900 and the volunteer registration donation raised more than $3,600. All of this money will be put in our Greg Heuer EDUcation Scholarship Fund to support woodworking students in the credentialing process, as well as provide funds to help qualifing woodworking instructors cover the cost of attending IWF or the AWFS Fair as part of their continuing education.

Finally, I would like to thank all of our industry supporters, including our Gold and Silver sponsors, whose financial contibutions help make it possible to continue developing new programs for schools and industry.

I hope everyone has a Wonderful Holiday Season.

Scott Nelson
President
Woodwork Career Alliance of North America
snelsonwca@gmail.com

Welcome New Members & Sponsors!


The Woodwork Career Alliance of North America is pleased to welcome the following new members and renewing sponsors.

Thank you for your membership and support!

New EDUcation™ Members
Algoma High School – Algoma, WI
Blackfoot High School – Blackfoot, ID
Cadott Jr/Sr High School – Cadott, WI
Hands On Deck – Green Bay, WI
Havelock High School – New Bern, NC
Jefferson High School – Jefferson, WI
Lake Mills High School – Lake Mills, WI
New Jersey School of Woodwork – Washington Township, NJ
Parkview Jr/Sr High School – Orfordville, WIS
Plum City Middle/High School – Plum City, WI
South Rowan High School – China Grove, NC
West Craven High School – Greenville, NC
Westminster High School – Westminster, CA
Williams Bay Middle/High School – Williams Bay, WI

Find WCA EDUcation™ woodworking programs in your area.

New MANufacturing™ Members
Kevin Cradock Builders – Boston, MA
DK Woodworks – Bishop, CA
Forum Works, LLC – Milford Center, OH
Fry Classic Construction – Nashville, TN
Westwood Millwork – Valley View, TX

MANufacturing™ Member Renewal
Rowland Woodworking – High Point, NC

New Gold Sponsors

Air Handling Systems — Woodbridge, CT
PantoRouter – Orange City, OR
Smartech International – Charlotte, NC

INDustry™ Gold Sponsor Renewals
Friulmac
 — Hickory, NC
Safety Speed Manufacturing
Ham Lake, MN
Newman Machine —
Browns Summit, NC
SawStop,
Tualatin, OR

New Silver Sponsor
Castle USA – Petaluma, CA
Leitz Tooling Systems – Grand Rapids, MI

INDustry™ Silver Sponsor Renewal
Brookhuis America — Suwanee, GA
GDP GUHDO — Marietta, GA

View all WCA INDustry™ Sponsors & Supporters.

Learn more about the benefits of becoming a WCA sponsor.

WCA Experiences a Year of Accelerated Growth

The cumlative total of Passport credentials issued by the WCA since its inception surpassed 5,000 this year.

LINCOLN, Neb. – 2022 was a banner year for the Woodwork Career Alliance of North America.

The numbers help tell the story.

Through the first 11 months of the year, the WCA:

  • Enrolled 1,419 new candidates in the WCA Passport Credentialing program, nearly twice as many as were enrolled in 2021. More than 5,000 Passports have been issued since the program was created.
  • Enrolled 60 new schools as EDUcation™ members bringing the total to 160.
  • Enrolled eight new woodworking companies as MANufacturing™ members bringing the total to 28.
  • Added 35 woodworking instructors as Accredited Skill Evaluators, using the online training platform that was launched last year.

Chris Hedges goes over design details with the first students of Hocking College’s Cabinetmaking program Zane Drebus and Austin Ward. Hocking College is one of 60 high schools and postsecondary woodworking programs to join the Woodwork Career Alliance of North America in 2022.

In addition, WCA created the new Core credentialing program to recognize the accomplishments of more serious-minded woodworking students who expand their skill sets and tackle more challenging projects beyond the Sawblade Certification requirements.

WCA presented a well-attended half-day workshop at the International Woodworking Fair focused on helping woodworking companies to establish or enhance in-house training programs. This followed up a similar program the WCA conducted at the 2021 AWFS Fair.

WCA continued its partnership with the annual SkillsUSA Cabinetmaking competition on the national and state levels.

Finally, WCA continued to expanded its industry out-reach through news releases and the quarterly Pathways newsletter.

Looking ahead to 2023, the WCA plans to place more emphasis on developing new credentialing programs for the woodworking industry to rival professional certification programs in metal working, automotive, welding and other skilled trades. The overarching goal is to create viable career pathways in woodworking.

“As a self-funded 501c not-for-profit organization, we would not be able to go the extra mile without the generous support of our industry partners and sponsors,” said WCA President Scott Nelson. “Everyone knows that U.S. and Canadian wood products companies our desperate to find qualified candidates. I think the WCA’s growth is a clear indicator that more and more industry players are viewing our programs as a valuable resource to help recruit, train, and retain great employees.”

WCA publicly thanks each of the following organizations and companies for their fantastic financial support since Jan. 1, 2021.

  • 2021 AWFS Fair Silent Auction
  • 2022 International Woodworking Fair Silent Auction
  • Sherwin-Williams for donating $5,000 beyond the company’s annual Gold Sponsorship

2021-22 Gold Sponsors
Air Handling Systems ● AWI Quality Certification Program ● Blum ● Cantek America ● Daniels-Olsen/Metro Hardwoods ● Diamond Vogel ● Friulmac USA ● KCD Software ● Kerfkore ● M.L. Campbell ● Newman Machine ● NBMDA ● PantoRouter ● Rev-A-Shelf ● Roseburg Forest Products ● Safety Speed Manufacturing ● SawStop ● SCM Group USA ● Sherwin-Williams ● ShopBot Tools ● Smartech ● Stiles Machinery ● Thermwood ● Weinig USA ● WoodEd Table by Mimbus ● Woodworking Network ● Würth Group NA

2021-22 Silver Sponsors
Accu-Router ● Aiken Controls ● Bessey Group ● Black Bros. ● Brookhuis America ● C.R. Onsrud ● Castle USA ● Colonial Saw ● Daubert Chemical ● Deerwood Fasteners ● Eagle Mouldings ● GDP Guhdo ● Gemini-Coatings ● Hafele America ● IMA-Schelling ● Kreg Tool ● Leitz Tooling ● PaintLine ● Sorrelli Woodwork Consultants ● Super Thin Saws ● WDLusk Consulting ● Weima America

Learn more about WCA membership and sponsorship oppotunities.

About the Woodwork Career Alliance
The Woodwork Career Alliance of North America was founded in 2007 as a 501(c)(3) non-profit corporation and is governed by a volunteer board of directors. The WCA’s mission is to develop and administer a unified set of Skill Standards for the wood products industry. Since 2011, WCA has developed observable and measurable performance standards and assessments for more than 300 woodworking machine operations. In addition, WCA has issued over 5,000 Passport credentials, a portable, personal permanent record documenting each holder’s record of woodworking skill achievements. More than 160 high schools and post-secondary schools throughout North America are WCA EDUcation™ members and a growing number of woodworking companies have joined the WCA as MANufacturing™ members. To learn more about the WCA and how to get involved with its programs, including sponsorship opportunities, visit WoodworkCareer.org.