Oregon shop teacher honored at WIC

An Oregon shop teacher, SCM Group North America, Koetter Woodworking and Stanley Furniture received Wooden Globe awards at the recent Wood Industry Conference in Tempe, Ariz.

The annual awards are presented by the Wood Machinery Industry Association. Dean Mattson, the lead woodworking instructor at North Salem High School in Salem, Ore., won the Educator of the Year award and received a standing ovation for an impassioned speech that covered helping students from disadvantaged backgrounds and resurrecting a failing program.

Mattson’s program is thought to be the largest in the U.S. and next year will double in size to 950 students.

SCM Group North America captured the Partner of the Year award, given to a manufacturer or importer that best exemplifies the spirit of partnership in its dealings with woodworking machinery distributors.

"I would like to thank WMIA for this recognition and especially our distribution network that has, through their loyalty and support, helped make SCM Group a leading machinery supplying company in North America," group president John Gangone said when accepting the award.

Koetter Woodworking, a family-owned architectural millwork shop of more than 50 years in Borden, Ind., won the Innovation in Technology award.

Executives of Stanley Furniture received a Wooden Globe for commitment to the industry, based largely on the company’s reshoring effort. The company has returned manufacturing of its Young America line to the U.S. and retooled its plant in the process.