As the school year comes to an end, eight past winners of the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence end their time in the classroom. We’re honored to have partnered with these exceptional teachers and to share some of their reflections on what teaching the skilled trades has meant to them after all these years.

Gary Bronson – 2018 Prizewinner, Ohio

• 14 years teaching Industrial Diesel Mechanics at Laurel Oaks

“Over the years, I’ve really enjoyed helping students to get started in their careers as technicians. Seeing and hearing from former students on where their careers have taken them has been incredibly rewarding.”

Charles Kachmar – 2018 Prizewinner, Georgia

• 30 years teaching Welding and Engineering at Maxwell High School of Technology

“It is all about showing students the doors to a future. That is my love. And I have never been so completely fulfilled in my profession as I am as a welding instructor.”

Bob Leiby – 2018 Prizewinner, Maryland

• 46 years teaching Construction Management at Applications & Research Lab Tech School

“For me it’s observing the many levels of growth that the students scaffold through during the program. Miraculously they transform from starry eyed children that may never have pushed a broom into confident young men and women ready to take risks.”

Henrietta Jutson – 2019 Prizewinner, North Carolina

• 1 year teaching Exploring Careers (Technology) at Spring Lake Junior High
• 3 years teaching Exploring Careers (Technology), Fundamentals of Technology and Art at Westover Junior High
• 2 years teaching Exploring Careers (Technology) at Douglas Byrd Junior High
• 4 years teaching Fundamentals of Technology at 71^st High School
• 25 years teaching Integrated Systems Technology at Jack Britt High School

“Exposing students to any experience or skill relating to work has always been the primary goal in my classroom and lab. Each year graduates share where they are in their education or careers, letting me know which skills from the Integrated Systems Technology Program were used at work or gave them an advantage. These conversations were valuable to me in what to include for program development, but more importantly they validated all that we did in the classroom and lab. I am so proud to know those efforts have been and are still a part of their futures.”

Derek Rowe – 2019 Prizewinner, Tennessee

• 6 years teaching Aviation Education at McGavock High School
• 4 years teaching Aviation Technology at Tullahoma High School
• Inducted into the Tennessee Aviation Hall of Fame in 2025

“The blossoming talent I’ve witnessed in our young men and women has been life-changing. For me it’s a reminder of the time in my life when someone believed in me, those times when someone said, ‘You can do this. Here are the tools.’”

Dan Van Boxtel – 2022 Prizewinner, Wisconsin

• 15 years teaching Technology & Engineering at Shiocton High School
• 3 years as an Assistant Principal Seymour High School
• 25 years teaching Technology & Engineering, Concentration in Automotive at Kaukauna High School

“I taught various areas in Technology and Engineering, but my main concentrations were in the automotive and outdoor power equipment areas. It has been important to me to teach about the skilled trades all of these years because I feel these skills are the foundations that support our society. Our future generations must be able to work with their minds as well as their hands in order to meet the challenges they will face. The abilities to problem solve, design and then create will be key to success of those generations. It has given me great satisfaction being a part of educating students in these skilled trade areas.”

David Barresi – 2023 Prizewinner, Michigan

• 23 years teaching Creative Woodworking and Industrial Technology between Rockingham Community College and Bellaire High School
• 14 years teaching Cabinet Making and Wood Manufacturing at Frankfort High School

“My greatest joy is to help a student discover their own innate abilities and creativity. Students need alternative ways to learn through hands-on experiences found in project-based learning. By implementing multiple learning modalities and providing scaffolded instruction, the resultant skills can serve them well, whatever they choose to do.”

Joe Gabardi – 2023 Prizewinner, Minnesota

• 3 years teaching Automotive Technology at Champlin Park High School
• 20 years teaching Automotive and Industrial Technology at Nashwauk-Keewatin High School

“Once a student feels safe and comfortable, they are willing to work, learn, and step out of their comfort zone. When you have students willing to do that, you can teach them without them even knowing they are learning.”