NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — Drury High School senior Luke Grant earned a $1,000 award for his production technology classroom after submitting an essay to Woodshop News.

 

The December issue of the woodworking magazine invited high school and college students to write about the products they would create with a Laguna Tools computer numerical control machine — a computerized woodworking machine. Grant wrote that he would use a CNC machine to create molds to shape fiberglass or carbon fiber into body panels for an entry in the Tour De Sol, a rally for solar power vehicles.

 

"The woodworking classes at Drury High School participate every year in community service learning projects. I'm told they'll use the award to fix some shop equipment that had been idled by lack of repair funds," Laguna Tools Vice President Catherine Helshoj said in a statement.

 

In addition, Grant also identified the need to update Drury's current CNC machine. Each year students in Keith Davis' computer-assisted drafting and woodworking classes participate in community service-learning projects using the machine. Such projects included building dressers, raised-bed community gardens, carnival games and sheds for the Habitat for Humanity.

 

One project — a sign for the Hoosic River Revival — was put on hold because of a lack of funds to repair the current machine. With the grant, this project will resume.

 

Grant's essay was chosen from several hundred entries.

 

"It shows you the power that you have over a situation where you can solve it by using your imagination and skills from class," Grant said.