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