Castle crowns contest winners

Castle USA, a manufacturer of pocket cutting machinery since 1985, has announced the winners of its student woodworking competition, “What’s your Angle”.

The competition is an extension of the company’s educational program that strives to inspire students to learn more about woodworking as a career or hobby.

Entries were evaluated based on the overall look and presentation of their project, as well as the most effective and innovative use of screw pocket joinery.

D.J. Shaw, a student from Lincoln East High School in Lincoln, Neb., won the Individual category for a side chair, while Reed-Custer High School in Braidwood, Ill., was the High School Class winner with a custom-built kitchen.

Mark Smith, industrial technology teacher at Reed-Custer, says his Production 1 & 2 students built the cabinets for a local family as part of the program’s annual group project.

“It is a Craftsman-style design that we helped develop with the family. This is the first contest we have been able to enter our yearly cabinet job into. The contest was a fantastic opportunity to display the work the students completed, but even more important, it helped shine a light on career and technical education. The pendulum is finally swinging back towards the kind of education my students need and thrive in,” Smith says.

Honorable mentions were awarded to the programs at Lincoln East High School; Columbia Early College High School in Columbia, N.C., and West Henderson High School in Hendersonville, N.C., and to students at Cedar Ridge High School in Hillsborough, N.C., and Battle Ground High School in Battle Ground, Wash.

For more, visit castleusa.com.

This article was originally published in the August 2023 issue.