It’s been a busy few months for the Peyton Woods Manufacturing Program.

And for Dean Mattson, director of Woods Manufacturing for the Peyton School District, it’s been a busy seven years. Mattson has brought his experience in business and education, and his own enthusiasm, to a new program to train high school students in manufacturing and other skills.

Peyton Woods Manufacturing Program came together quickly, and that required the stars to align, according to one observer.

Many of those “stars” were in the building during a recent open house event at the Peyton, Colorado, training center. The event featured educators, students, and many industry representatives that have not only contributed equipment and supplies, but also have matched Mattson’s enthusiasm.

What has resulted is not a typical educational effort, but a special program that is the result of close cooperation between educators and industry. It’s also a model for other schools around the country to follow.

Business background

Mattson owned Mattson’s Interiors in Salem, Oregon, a cabinetmaking and woodworking company, until 2009.

He was recruited to take over the North Salem High School woodworking program when its long-time instructor, David Anderson, retired.

Mattson found many of the students performing poorly as a result of neglect, poverty and even homelessness. The shop class was seen by many as a dead end. Students assigned to the class were considered to have no future.

Mattson connected with students at North Salem by treating them as employees with potential and a future, and they responded.

In 2013, Mattson won the Woodworking Machinery Industry Association Wooden Globe Educator of the Year Award. When accepting the award, he challenged industry executives to help build a brand-new high tech training center to help them address a critical shortage in qualified employees.

While industry wasn’t prepared to fund and construct a new building from the ground up, they did promise support in other ways, including equipment, supplies and training.

All that was needed was a location.

Meanwhile, Mark Schultz, a commercial cabinetmaker in Peyton, read about the North Salem program and Dean Mattson in an article in FDMC Magazine.

Tim Kistler, superintendent of the Peyton School District, was looking for an educator for a new manufacturing training program. He planned to use an empty former school building in Peyton, a town of 250 near Colorado Springs.

Kistler also had a critical component: Support of the local school board.

“The board needs to be on board with what’s happening,” he said.

Schultz recommended Kistler contact Mattson, which he did. But Mattson didn’t want to leave Oregon, and specifically didn’t want to leave his family or students at North Salem.

It took some time, but Kistler was ultimately successful in getting Mattson to make the move when Mattson saw the potential of the new training program.

For Mattson, Kistler was the partner he needed, a business-oriented school superintendent.

But one more thing had to be put into place. Mattson wouldn’t leave North Salem unless a qualified instructor could be found to take over the program and continue what he had started.

Andy Chidwick, colleague of Mattson and owner of the Chidwick School of Fine Woodworking in Montana, agreed to take over the North Salem program.

Even so, Mattson told FDMC that telling the kids in North Salem he was leaving was difficult. But some of them, while not wanting him to go, encouraged him to take the opportunity to teach and help others.

Peyton’s place

The Peyton Woods Manufacturing Program started in August, and has about 40 students attending either a morning or afternoon session. Mattson told FDMC during the open house that he wanted to start out small, and he is working with instructor Christopher Harding initially. The goal is 150 students for next fall.

The program provides entry level to advanced cabinet manufacturing, including wood manufacturing skills, math, problem solving and teamwork.

Mattson said the goal is turn out a student who is ready for secondary education or can move into the workforce. Students will work toward gaining a Woodwork Career Alliance passport, a national certification credential.

Kistler said that having a building available to house the training center was an important part of the formula. The Career Technical Center building has already had several roles, serving as an elementary, junior high and high school before a new high school was built in Peyton in 2004.

Also, Kistler said that they needed to show the community that the program will be successful. “(We have to) prove that this won’t be a typical educational failure,” he said.

Students speak

Treyston Whaley, a Peyton high school freshman, said that the woods manufacturing program was his favorite class and the one he looked forward to the most. He said he had learned about woodworking, drawing, types of wood and how to use machines, but he liked the life lessons and about how to run a business correctly the best.

Kaitlyn Norris, a sophomore, said that she looked forward to coming to the class every day, and would consider woods manufacturing as a career. She said she had learned about woodworking, but also how to succeed in life, and lessons from Mattson’s classes at North Salem. Also, she liked the class because students can do what they want to do instead of what is in a textbook.

Issac Hermes, a freshman, said that he had learned about saws and especially liked using the bandsaw. He looks forward to being able to build things without being told how by someone else, and said what he is learning could lead to either a career or a hobby.

Strong ties to industry

The main shop floor is only 2,495 square feet and is full of the latest woodworking equipment and space for instruction.

Close to 40 companies are exclusive partners or supporters, and are providing machines, materials and technology. Machines on the floor are identified with the sponsoring company’s name. Other company’s contributions (tooling, hardware, clamps, etc.) are in wall-mounted displays, and all companies are represented by banners hung on the walls.

“Spread the word,” Mattson said. “Industry led the way.”

One of the first to respond was Kreg Tools and Fasteners, which made a generous contribution of equipment. Stiles Machinery was also an early supporter, promising a wide range of equipment and support.

Other industry partners include TigerStop, Triton Power Tools, Timesavers, Ironwood, Bessey clamps, Nederman dust collection, FastCap, 3M sanding, adhesives and safety equipment, Columbia Forest Products, Cabinotch, Blum hardware and boring machines, Belfab, JLT clamping, Grex fasteners, QuickScrews, Veritas Lee Valley hand tools, Cabinet Vision software, Microjig and Leitz tooling.

Partner companies include Williams & Hussey Machine Co., Bosch power tools, Rikon power tools, Felder Group, SawStop, Barbo Machinery, Elder Construction, JDS Multi-Router, Drillnado dust collection, Conquest Industries and CTD saws.

Education partners include FDMC Magazine, WMIA, AWFS, Oregon State University, Woodwork Career Alliance, Custom Source Woodworking, and Vance publications.

Open house

Part of the open house ceremony was held in a gymnasium in the training center building. (A separate dinner recognized companies that have supported the program.) School board president Jim Frohbieter spoke about the school and community for visitors.

Tom Phillips, representing Kreg Tools, an early supporter of both North Salem and Peyton, also called the new program an “incubator of talent.”

Steve Waltman of Stiles Machinery described his early interest in the program, and wanted to emphasize the “manufacturing” part of the name rather than “wood.”

Tim Fixmer, publisher of FDMC, also spoke at the open house, describing his family’s experience as educators in woodworking and computers. The town of Peyton, he said, should be proud of this effort.

There’s plenty of work to be done at the Peyton school. The program will be expanded so that more students can take advantage of the Career Technical Center.

And a new 20,000-square foot National Training Center is also being planned for the near future in nearby Colorado Springs. Similar programs for automotive and computers are being considered.

“We will create the national training center,” Mattson stated during the open house.

So far, even Mattson has been surprised as the speed at which everything has happened. “We’re stunned every day,” he said, but adds that there is no reason a program like this couldn’t be set up in a larger school district.

“We’re doing this for the kids, and also for your future employees,” he said to industry representatives.”

For now, at least part of the gap between young people and an industry that needs them has been narrowed.