An automotive technology teacher from Enosburg Falls has won second place in the 2019 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence, earning his high school skilled trades program $35,000 as part of $1 million awarded nationally. Baxter Weed, who teaches automotive technology at Cold Hollow Career Center in Enosburg Falls, was surprised in his classroom by a representative from Harbor Freight Tools for Schools with the news that he and his school will receive $50,000—$35,000 for the school’s skilled trades program and $15,000 for him personally.
“Skilled trades educators are crucial to helping students stay engaged and motivated in high school,” said Danny Corwin, executive director of Harbor Freight Tools for Schools. “These amazing teachers connect students to promising careers, show them how to apply academics to the real world and help them feel pride and accomplishment—something they might not experience in all their classes. We make these awards because we believe in these teachers, we believe in these students, and we believe this vital sector deserves more support and investment.”
The Prize for Teaching Excellence was started in 2017 by Harbor Freight Tools Founder Eric Smidt to recognize extraordinary public high school skilled trades teachers and programs with a proven track record of dedication and performance. Prizes are awarded by Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, a program of The Smidt Foundation.
"All of our roads and bridges, our schools and homes, and our planes and automobiles are built and are maintained by tradespeople," Smidt said. "It is our dedicated skilled trades teachers, who inspire students to pursue these meaningful careers, that allow our economy to thrive and make so much of what we depend on possible. We are deeply honored to be able to shine a light on these extraordinary teachers today."
Weed has served as an auto teacher at Cold Hollow for 18 years—a career he never would have imagined when he was a student. A computer engineering major in college, Weed had always been on an exclusively “college prep” track and was unaware that career education was an option. It was his passion for all things mechanical that led him to transfer to an automotive program and take a job at a local independent shop before becoming a teacher.
Weed’s automotive program is aligned to national standards and industry requirements, and students can obtain postsecondary credits while still in high school through their courses. Cold Hollow’s auto program is one of the few in Vermont that is part of a formal ASE mentorship program, giving students the opportunity to job-shadow and receive co-operative job placements.
After school, Weed offers an automotive club for students to hone their fabrication, welding and performance skills on everything from a custom motorcycle to a lowered panel truck. Weed determines auto club projects based on student interest, letting their curiosity guide the work. Students also have the opportunity to request projects in class, suggest field trips and choose their own long-term advanced project.
Over the past seven years, half of Weed’s graduates have entered employment in automotive or a related field. Of students receiving a co-op placement, one in three receive full-time job offers upon graduation.
“Having former students gainfully employed, owning businesses, paying taxes and living in the same area they grew up in shows the enormous payback for the time they spent practicing their skills with me,” Weed said. “Many of these graduates have ‘broken the cycle’ of living in poverty and are inspirations to their families.”
The 2019 prize drew nearly 750 applications from 49 states and included three rounds of judging, each by a separate independent panel of experts from industry, education, trades, philanthropy and civic leadership. The field was narrowed this summer to 50 semifinalists. The application process, which included responses to questions and a series of online video learning modules, was designed to solicit each teacher’s experience, insights and creative ideas about their approach to teaching and success in helping their students achieve excellence in the skilled trades.
About Harbor Freight Tools for Schools
Harbor Freight Tools for Schools is a program of The Smidt Foundation, established by Harbor Freight Tools Founder Eric Smidt, to advance excellent skilled trades education in public high schools across America. With a deep respect for the dignity of these fields and for the intelligence and creativity of people who work with their hands, Harbor Freight Tools for Schools aims to drive a greater understanding of and investment in skilled trades education, believing that access to quality skilled trades education gives high school students pathways to graduation, opportunity, good jobs and a workforce our country needs. Harbor Freight Tools is a major supporter of the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools program. For more information, visit us at harborfreighttoolsforschools.org/ and on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.