More than 50 high school skilled trades teachers from across the U.S. participated in “Let’s Build It,” an annual convening of past winners of the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence.® The event, held July 10-14 in Marina Del Rey, California, was designed to produce inventive ideas that could dramatically improve skilled trades education in public schools and communities across the country.
John Lockhart, an agricultural mechanics teacher at South Harrison High School in West Virginia, attended Let’s Build It. Lockhart is a 2021 winner of the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence.
During the four-day convening, teachers visited La Mirada High School, where they met with students participating in the Los Angeles County skilled trades summer program. At Da Vinci Schools, the prizewinners built solar suitcases, which will be sent to international teachers who don’t have sufficient electricity sources to run their classes.
William Culver, a 2022 grand prize winner from Evergreen High School in Vancouver, Washington, shared “Being able to rub shoulders with prize winners from across the country was both inspiring and humbling. The workshop sessions were thought provoking and the school visitations were just flat out amazing. Everything was top notch and I truly felt like royalty.”
The mission of Harbor Freight Tools for Schools is to increase understanding, support and investment in skilled trades education in U.S. public high schools. For more information, please visit HFTforschools.org or follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @HFTforschools.
About Harbor Freight Tools for Schools®
Harbor Freight Tools for Schools is a program of The Smidt Foundation, established by Harbor Freight Tools owner and founder Eric Smidt, to advance excellent skilled trades education in U.S. public high schools. With a deep respect for the dignity of these fields and for the intelligence and creativity of people who work with their hands, Harbor Freight Tools for Schools aims to drive a greater understanding of and investment in skilled trades education, believing that access to quality skilled trades education gives high school students pathways to graduation, opportunity, good jobs, and a workforce our country needs. Harbor Freight Tools is a major supporter of the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools program. For more information,