Mr. Rowan's Shop Class

Titebond donated 36 bottles of Titebond III, as well as pencils, stickers, and a great new banner to display above our glue station. Thank you Titebond!

The woodmill has arrived from Wood Mizer on behalf of the Architectural Woodworking Institute Education Foundation.

Fall Business Advisory Board occurred October 9th. We were joined by Woodworx, Grizzly, LX Hausys, Anton's Cabinetry, as well as TECC-West Students. Conversations with partners centered around workplace preparedness, shadowing opportunities, and the future of AI in the woodworking industry.

Jacob Langran created this wonderful sketch of all the basic hand tools. Very good work Jacob!

Student have begun beginning lessons on their derby car, potholder, and caddy project. Each project teaches different tooling and techniques and challenges students to grow as craftsmen.

Jackson has demonstrated hard work and humility in the classroom. He works hard to keep our lumber racks clear and is very excited about the wood manufacturing industry.

Alejandra Corona and Kade Mazzella wrote some really amazing things about work ethic for their capstone essay in Mike Rowe Works S.W.E.A.T pledge curriculum.

Congratulations to Jackson Baker and Sam Walker for scoring top points on their hand tool project. This project showcases basic hand tool and measuring proficiency and is the foundational project in our program.

Congratulations to Ethan Jang and Calvin Arrington for top scores on their Derby Car Project. The Derby car introduces power tooling and works through basic sanding and assembly work.

Congratulations to Ricardo Robles and Samuel Walker for scoring top points on their pot holder project. The Pot Holder practices basic bandsaw, router, and finishing work.

Please contact me at rowanm@lisd.net if you are a wood manufacturing business looking at adding one of our great students to your business post graduation. I look forward to hearing from you!

Hello, my name is Nolen Mares, I am the Director of Operations at South Loft Crafted Concepts

What is your role in more detail and what does your company do?

I am more front of house operations these days, meaning.. client relations, writing up estimates and invoices, sourcing material. Getting some initial design ideas down to determine an accurate ballpark price and to make sure Im on the same page as the client and what they are wanting. Determining how much labor to charge or how long a task should take. Gauging appropriate turnaround time with the complexity of the job and current our current work schedule, etc.

I also oversee the the Marketing and Design team, keeping up with our social media, website and any other possible marketing tools. Making sure we are staying relevant and engaging, not only to fellow woodworkers, builders, makers, DIY'ers, but more importantly to potential clients... interior designers, restaurant owners, residential clients looking to add new custom furniture to their home.

How did you get started in wood manufacturing?

I went to college for Graphic Design and got a Bachelors in Fine Arts, which required a lot of drawing, painting, and sculpting classes which all kind of got me more in tuned with the fabrication and design side of things.

I bartended through college as well as between jobs or in addition to after college, which brought me here to Dallas, helping open up bars and nightclubs. I ended up making friends with a few other fellow bartenders who we all had some of the same interests in designing and building custom furniture, so we started to put our heads and our money together and started trying out building some stuff. Landed up getting a few big clients in the hospitality industry to make the furniture packages for their restaurants and just started going from there.

Best career advice for high schoolers?

Don't be too concerned with making mistakes, because they're always going to happen... be more concerned with adjustment and learning how to fix them.