CTE Woodworking at Portage Northern High School

05/20/2026

Look what the shop students made!!! Not only did we make the cabinet, we designed and printed the graphics, designed and 3D printed the mounting brackets for the electronic components, and programmed the Raspberry Pi… Are you ready for a little old school gaming competition? .senate

05/15/2026

3rd annual senior farewell shop cookout today! Thanks Traeger Grills for making this one special for them… the students cooked 60 burgers and 100 hotdogs in an hour.

05/09/2026

Huge congratulations to Stella for their outstanding achievement with their independently designed and crafted “Butterfly Bookends” project! 🦋🪵

This project is an excellent example of creativity, technical skill, and independent project ex*****on in our CTE Engineering in Wood Technology program at Portage Northern High School.

Last week, Stella competed at the regional level in the Michigan Industrial Technology Education Society competition and earned 1st place in their category. This week, she continued that success by receiving 1st place at the STATE level for her project!

Stella is not only a talented woodworker, but also a leader in the classroom who consistently demonstrates dedication, craftsmanship, and a willingness to help others succeed.

The Michigan Industrial Technology Education Society (MITES) has a long history of promoting excellence in industrial and technical education by giving students opportunities to showcase real-world career and technical skills through competition and leadership experiences.

We are incredibly proud of Stella and all they have accomplished!

05/07/2026

Today, Portage Northern Woodworking students visited the Carpenter & Millwright Training facility in Wayland just off 131. They were treated to a great tour and given information about a well paying career after high school if they choose to follow a path into the workforce. One of the amazing things we learned is apprentices will receive 56 credit hours towards an associate degree over a 4 year period.

04/29/2026

Portage Northern CTE Woodworking is proud to share another meaningful student project with a global impact.

Student Julia S. recently designed and created custom signs for Kindness Acts 20:35 that traveled to Malawi, Africa — one of the poorest countries in the world. These signs are being used at a new camp facility and community center built to serve orphans, children in need, and families within the village community.

The organization hosting the project works with children in local schools every week by mentoring, teaching, and providing meals for community kids while sharing hope and encouragement.

Projects like this give our students real-world experience while showing how skilled trades and craftsmanship can make a difference far beyond the classroom.

Great work, Julia! We are proud to see your talents being used to impact lives around the world.

04/28/2026

Real-world experience in action at Portage Northern CTE Woodworking!

Our students recently completed three custom traveling trophies for Traeger Grills that will travel between their offices across the United States to recognize outstanding employees and departments. Traeger supplied beautiful curly maple for the project, and Portage Northern student Jacob K. programmed the design for production on our CNC router.

This project gave students valuable hands-on experience working with a real client, real materials, and real production expectations. During the process, Joe from Traeger visited our class to talk with students about how the foundation and soft skills they are developing in our program directly transfer into careers in manufacturing and industry. He also shared a mold used in a stamping process, giving students an inside look at modern production methods.

As a thank you for the partnership, Traeger generously donated a Woodridge Pro smoker and a four-burner flat top grill to our program!

Each year on the final day for graduating seniors, our woodworking students organize a potluck lunch celebration. This year, we are especially excited to put our new Traeger equipment to good use.

Thank you to Traeger and Joe for investing in our students and helping create meaningful, career-connected learning opportunities!

04/14/2026

We are incredibly grateful to announce the donation of an HP DesignJet T620 to our program, generously provided by our friend and supporter, Bob Stanton.

This large-format printer will open up exciting new opportunities for our students. From printing detailed architectural drawings and engineering designs to creating professional-quality posters and project presentations, this equipment will allow them to bring their ideas to life in ways that simply weren’t possible before.

Bob, your support truly makes a difference in the hands-on learning experiences we’re able to offer. Thank you for investing in our students and their future!

03/13/2026

Uppers and lowers coming along for our back room conversion in the shop!

03/08/2026

This week was a great week for us. The picture of our beginning student, Quinton, “getting it” as they learn to run our T5 CNC router sums up what we call the “light bulb” moment. This is what happens when you can tie math standards to real world applications. Also pictured is a cabinet project that Riley has been working on and is currently in the finishing stages!

03/07/2026

February was Career and Technical Education Month, and last year the CTE Woodworking program at Portage Northern High School celebrated by awarding a student with a scholarship from the Cabinet Makers Association (CMA). This year our students are busy completing their applications, and we’re excited to share that two students have already secured scholarships from different sources that will be awarded before the end of the school year. The funds will help them purchase tools and other essentials as they begin their Apprenticeship Program with the UBC. We’re proud to support the next generation of skilled trades professionals and can’t wait to see where their hard work takes them! 🛠️🎓

Our Portage Public Schools students are doing amazing things everyday in our classrooms and beyon...