National Center for Craftsmanship

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Introduction

 

Hello, my name is Robert Sommerfeld from Greeley, CO. As a vocational education teacher, I have experienced one of the significant challenges facing public education programs throughout the country: the critical need for classroom materials and supplies. School district budgets are notoriously tight, and teachers and educators purchase materials and supplies out of their pocket. According to the Department of Education, over 93% of educators report paying for their school supplies. Adoptaclassroom.org, a national nonprofit that helps teachers and schools secure funding, found that teachers spend an average of $750 of their own money to purchase school supplies, with 30% of teachers spending $1,000 or more. Nowhere in the public education system is this need more pressing than the Career and Technical Education (CTE) programs (think construction, woodworking, welding & metalworking, etc.). Here, individual educators and staff have to create outside funding to provide their students' basic needs, classrooms, and programs.

 

Joe S. and Veronica M. are two students who exemplify why more help is needed. They impacted my teaching, both personally and professionally. At a school district meeting, Joe’s mom Margret approached me, telling me how my classroom had a dramatic and life-changing impact on him and how he found his passion through our hands-on, technical education classes. We both started to tear up. She told me he was now excited about school and his future. As a result, Joe was able to follow his dreams, achieving success in his career path. Knowing Joe, there are more successes to come!

 

Veronica M. had an unstoppable drive from the beginning of her freshman year through graduation. She participated in many of my classes and excelled in all aspects. I became good friends with her and her family. Years later, I was invited to her wedding. Through these hands-on classes and our work together, we helped foster the spark for her to achieve her goals and carry them on to college. She is now a professional designer at a large custom cabinet manufacturer in Northern Colorado.

 

As a high school Industrial Technology & CTE teacher for over 18 years and the Assistant Director for NCC since 2006, I have seen first-hand how a lack of funding for material and supplies has directly impacted our students’ ability to work with these critical materials that enhance their skills development in the classroom. And the cost of these materials has skyrocketed over the past decade. We are constantly networking with school staff and the community, hoping to find sources of donated or discounted materials. Thankfully, local businesses have stepped up to provide some help (mostly scrap materials from their production process), but we still need to pick up these materials on our own time.

 

So we asked ourselves; Can we help our kids learn professional skills through materials reuse and recycling while teaching them the benefits of keeping these materials out of the waste stream? After all, if we’re keeping reusable wood and other materials out of the landfill, we’re reducing our carbon footprint and reducing pressures on our forests and other natural resources.

 

We’ve had some early successes, but we realize this is a much larger issue. We’ve learned that this problem is so pervasive that it will take more resources to continue getting necessary materials into students' hands. With a bit of help, we can make a big difference by expanding our materials donation program to multiple locations across our districts, state, and country. We’re here to help teachers and students regenerate CTE, repurpose waste materials, and strengthen our schools and community connections.

 

1. Our Purpose

 

This program aims to provide NCC and local business partners opportunities to salvage waste lumber and other materials from commercial manufacturers and vendors and move them directly into CTE programs where they are desperately needed. It is anticipated that the outcomes of this program will enhance the education and skills of vocational education students and reduce commercial wood waste and other materials. By reducing teachers’ out-of-classroom time spent locating, negotiating, and picking up these materials, they will be able to focus on educational outcomes better. The materials will reduce the financial stress on teachers and schools and provide a ready supply of materials to these programs.

 

2. The Future Could Be Amazing

 

This program can be replicated around the state and country as more companies and schools are engaged to provide materials for CTE classrooms. Materials can be picked up and sorted for projects and then delivered to each participating school. Donated materials can provide valuable tax incentives for businesses and individuals. Even if they are unusable or unwanted by the donor, this doesn’t mean they no longer have value! Other non-profits, parent groups, organizations, and individuals can engage with this program, continuing to enroll more participants, supporters, and sponsors.

 

3. The Goals

 

So far, we have partnered with local Northern Colorado CTE program directors and educators, delivering materials to four schools. Other businesses have expressed interest, and more schools will be receiving materials as soon as we receive funding to make this possible. Students and educators will have an opportunity to design, manufacture, and build their projects in their classrooms. One of our objectives for this program is to teach reuse and recycling practices and economics to CTE program participants. Businesses are excited to engage directly with school-to-work education programs to provide local high school graduates with job opportunities.

 

All NCC projects are performed using local sources of labor and include on-the-job training while incentivizing the employment and professional development of skilled craftspeople within our professional and educational industries.

 

So far, from March of 2021 to March 2022, we have diverted over 8 tons of 2’x 12” pine in 2’ to 4’ length cut-offs to Berthoud High School (We filled our wood storage room and more in our wood lab at BHS!), Walt Clark Middle School, Loveland High School and Poudre High School. Diverting all these materials from the landfill! We have a new educational partner, TACT (A Colorado-based organization teaching trade skills to the autism community)! Students have free access to all of these materials to build projects.

 

Through these experiences, we recognized the opportunity to expand this program as a model to provide needed materials to our CTE programs throughout Colorado and beyond. Please help us keep these valuable materials out of our landfills to put them into the hands of those who need them most.

 

4. How the Donations Will Be Spent

 

The donated funds will go towards:

 

Equipment: Tools for processing materials- a miter saw, table saw, pallet jack, and electric drills. Laptop and tablet for project management, data gathering, and analysis. Flatbed trailer.

 

Labor: Material handling costs (transport, processing, and delivery) to get the material into the student’s hands.

 

Materials: Packaging & banding, hardware

 

Rental: Storage facility / small workshop to store, organize, and process materials.

 

General administrative costs: (insurance, overhead).

 

Please donate what you can and share this with others so we can make this a regenerative program, helping vocational education students learn the skills needed to make a great living and help build their future. Even a small donation will support our teachers and schools to afford to enhance their programs by not worrying as much about spending the little funds they have on materials.

 

Thank you so much!

 

Robert Sommerfeld

Assistant Director

National Center for Craftsmanship

“Save the Trades”