Northwoods Manufacturing highlights student work

HURLEY - Students at the Hurley K-12 School showed off products, talked shop and gave tours in honor of their company Northwoods Manufacturing, Friday.

The open house continues today from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the school, and visitors Friday spoke to students about a variety of products the company has made, using a variety of machines.

According to instructor Roger Peterson, the community support has been "outstanding.

"Without the involvement of the community, businesses or administration in this program, we wouldn't have nearly the success we have now," Peterson said.

Students continued to work on projects during the open house, allowing for visitors to see the machines in action. Some of the items students made were for sale, including pens, cutting boards, shelves, cabinets and other items.

Peterson said some visitors also had requests for items. Most recently, the students made a special project for Scott Erickson, a history teacher and varsity football coach at Hurley.

"He requested a bar made from some of the old bleachers from the football field," Peterson said. "He wanted it as a reminder, and that was a project we started on and finished this past week."

In addition to learning about the different machines and how to make certain products, students also learn the business-side of things, something Peterson said is very important.

"The biggest part is the soft skills the kids learn," he said. "Things like patience, responsibility, typical work-ethic qualities are incredibly important."

For Peterson and the students, having the community support of the shop is "awesome."

"The kids get really excited," Peterson said. "Instead of just having a teacher telling them what to do, they can interact with the community. They see that the community is actually proud of them for this. We just want to say thanks to the local industries, administration and school board of allowing this to happen. Helping us get started has been great, and we're thankful."

For more information on Northwoods Manufacturing, visit hurley.k12.wi.us.