3,500 kits from Harbor Freight Tools for Schools will support hands-on learning during the COVID-19 pandemic.

CALABASAS, Calif.—As many schools across the country continue to manage virtual teaching and learning this school year due to COVID-19, Harbor Freight Tools for Schools announced today that it has distributed more than 3,500 tool kits to skilled trades teachers to lend to their students.

Like laboratory or other career courses, skilled trades classes can be particularly challenging to teach online because they require the use of tools not always available at home.

With more than one million students studying trades like construction, welding, manufacturing, automotive and electrical, take-home tools are one way to allow students to keep honing their hands-on skills even if their schools operate entirely or partially remotely. Many of the donated tool kits included a tool bag, assorted hand tools, measurement tools, and/or safety gear. Harbor Freight Tools for Schools may expand the tool kit effort to more schools as it evaluates impact and demand over the course of this semester.

“We have been humbled by the incredible ingenuity and resilience we’ve seen from skilled trades teachers and students during the pandemic,” said Danny Corwin, executive director of Harbor Freight Tools for Schools. “We’re providing these tool kits because we believe that skilled trades jobs are essential to our country, now more than ever, and that means skilled trades education is essential, too.”

As COVID-19 shuttered businesses across the country this year, skilled tradespeople, particularly those employed in public works and utilities, were deemed “essential” by many states. Even before the pandemic, eight in 10 American voters agreed that skilled trades jobs are “important,” according to a NORC poll commissioned by Harbor Freight Tools for Schools.

Despite being regarded as crucial, and despite the family-supporting wages they offer, skilled trades jobs routinely ranked among the hardest to fill over the past several years. A forthcoming wave of retirements is expected to worsen existing shortages well into the next decade. That means today’s skilled trades students have the opportunity to find meaningful and sustaining work in these fields.

“Our country is going to come out of this pandemic stronger—and skilled tradespeople and jobs will be essential to that recovery,” said Eric Smidt, founder of Harbor Freight Tools for Schools. “With many high school students preparing to enter a trade immediately after graduation, we want to make sure they can keep learning and growing their skills at home.”

The tool kits come courtesy of donated tools from Harbor Freight Tools, the nationwide tool retailer. Smidt, the founder and owner of the company, created the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools program in 2014. Today, the program is operated by The Smidt Foundation, established by Smidt in 2016.

Tool kits have been made available to teachers who are past winners of the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence and are currently teaching at a U.S. public high school. Also, the prizewinning teachers nominated a trades teacher in their community to receive tool kits. Each teacher was able to customize their requested kits depending on their students’ course of study and needs. Kits have been distributed to schools, which will lend them to students to take home for the semester or school year, similar to the way schools lend laptops.

The tool kits expand on a project implemented last spring at Enumclaw High School in Washington State by construction teacher Bob Kilmer. Kilmer, a 2017 Prize for Teaching Excellence winner who recently retired and now consults for Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, provided tools to his students to pick up on campus. Students used the tools to complete projects such as those shown above.

“These tool kits will be essential to keeping learning on track for students who love thinking with their hands,” Kilmer said. “We hope these tools make life a little easier and keep students on the path to meaningful post-secondary and career opportunities.”

The tool kit recipients are:

Roxanne Amiot
Automotive
Bullard-Havens Technical High School
Bridgeport, Connecticut

Matthew Barbercheck
Industrial Technology
Republic-Michigamme Schools
Republic, Michigan

Russell Bartz
Manufacturing
South Elgin High School
South Elgin, Illinois

Mark Berryhill
Welding and Agriculture Mechanics
Enumclaw High School
Enumclaw, Washington

Keith Bright
Architecture & Construction
Harrison Bay Future Ready Center
Ooltewah, Tennessee

Gary Bronson
Diesel Mechanics
Laurel Oaks Career Campus
Wilmington, Ohio

Robert Caylor
Automotive Technology
Gulfport High School
Gulfport, Mississippi

Jeff Cesari
Power Equipment Technology
Bucks County Technical High School
Fairless Hills, Pennsylvania

Jordan Clarke
Construction and Carpentry
Bellflower Middle/High School
Bellflower, California

Ken Cox
Automotive Technology
Redwood High School
Visalia, California

Wes Crawford
Welding and Agriscience
Sutherlin High School
Sutherlin, Oregon

Derrick Crum
Agriculture
South Fork High School
Stuart, Florida

Steven Densham
Manufacturing
Fallbrook Union High School
Fallbrook, California

Lesford Dixon
Carpentry
Construction Careers Academy
San Antonio, Texas

Matthew Duerre
Construction
Enumclaw High School
Enumclaw, Washington

Bill Dunham
Industrial Technology
Wapello Community School District
Wapello, Iowa

Eric Dyer
Agriculture Mechanics
Woodland Senior High School
Woodland, California

Matthew Erbach
Precision Manufacturing
Streamwood High School
Streamwood, Illinois

Josh Gary
Woods Manufacturing
Sutherlin High School
Sutherlin, Oregon

Jerry Globe
Automotive
Enumclaw High School
Enumclaw, Washington

Jesse Gregoire
Automotive Technology
Concord Regional Technical Center
Concord, New Hampshire

Melissa Hageman
Agriculture Mechanics
South Winneshiek High School
Decorah, Iowa

Vincent Hobart
Automotive Technology
Livingston Area Career Center
Pontiac, Illinois

Dave Huffman
Construction Technology
Gulfport High School
Gulfport, Mississippi

Ed Hughes
Manufacturing
Sheboygan Falls High School
Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin

Dennis Johnson
Automotive
Fallbrook Union High School
Fallbrook, California

Stanley Jones
Automotive
Woodland Senior High School
Woodland, California

Joseph Jones
Construction Technology
Laurel Oaks Career Campus
Wilmington, Ohio

Henrietta Jutson
Integrated Systems Technology
Jack Britt High School
Fayetteville, North Carolina

Ben Kercher
Welding and Wood Technology
Glide High School
Glide, Oregon

Trevor Kongable
Welding, Woodworking and Carpentry
Winfield – Mt. Union Community School
Winfield, Iowa

Jodi Lancaster
Welding
Livingston Area Career CenterPontiac, Illinois

Jake Leair
Welding
Grants Pass High School
Grants Pass, Oregon

Roger Mayo
Construction
Sikeston Career and Technology Center
Sikeston, Missouri

Scott Mayotte
Automotive Technology
Concord Regional Technical Center
Concord, New Hampshire

Gary Mishica
Woods, Metals & Drafting
Hancock Public School
Hancock, Michigan

Sherie Moran
Construction & Carpentry
North Marion High School
Aurora, Oregon

Art Padilla
Welding
CEC Early College
Denver, Colorado

Jason Paul
Construction Management
Construction Careers Academy
San Antonio, Texas

Justin Pickard
Agriculture Mechanics
Paso Robles High School
Paso Robles, California

William Probst
Construction Trades
Keystone Central School District CTC
Mill Hall, Pennsylvania

Troy Reichert
Industrial Technology
Guernsey-Sunrise Public High School
Guernsey, Wyoming

Wendy Schepman
Landscape Operations
South Fork High School
Stuart, Florida

Jonathan Schwartz
Manufacturing, Construction and Math
Colfax High School
Colfax, California

Curtis Teunissen
Manufacturing
Sheboygan Falls High School
Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin

Brent Trankler
Welding
Sikeston Career and Technology Center
Sikeston, Missouri

Peter Wachtel
Product Innovation and Architecture
Adolfo Camarillo High School
Camarillo, California

Patrick Wadsworth
Construction and Technical Writing
Construction Technology
Gulfport High School
Gulfport, Mississippi

William Wamsley
Carpentry and Masonry
South View High School
Hope Mills, North Carolina

Jerry Webb
Manufacturing, Electrical and Plumbing Systems
Harrison Bay Future Ready Center
Ooltewah, Tennessee

Baxter Weed
Automotive Technology
Cold Hollow Career Center
Enosburg Falls, Vermont

David White
Automotive
Parkside High School
Salisbury, Maryland

Randy Williamson
Construction
Williamsport Area High School
Williamsport, Pennsylvania

About Harbor Freight Tools for Schools

Harbor Freight Tools for Schools is a program of The Smidt Foundation, established by Harbor Freight Tools Founder Eric Smidt, to advance excellent skilled trades education in public high schools across America. 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, visit us at HarborFreightToolsforSchools.org and Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and Twitter.