Bobby Hoffman, the CTE Carpentry Instructor led the Carpentry Club to attend the NC Department of Labor Carpentry Apprentice Contest in Raleigh on Thursday, October 18th.

The contest consists of each team building a scale dog house with a floor system, walls, siding, roof framing and roof shingles. Teams are given four and a half hours to complete the project. Teams are ranked based on how accurate theirs is to the plan.

The two teams placed in ninth and 10th place.

“They did very well.  When you bunch the top 10  teams together very little separates First place from 10th place.   It comes down to minute judging from the officials,” Hoffman said.

Considering the difficulty of the competition Hoffman wanted to prepared his class to take it on confidently.

“Well, we had to build the whole dog house before and then practice we had to learn roofing that we had never done before, and just learn a bunch of new stuff that we had never experienced,” Junior Corey Baker said, who took part in the competition.

Baker has been taking Hoffman’s Labor Carpentry class since he was a freshman.  Devin Hogan, a junior who also participated in the contest, feels that it is a great opportunity our school has available to carpentry students.

“It feels good because not a lot of schools have something like this, so it is good to have the experience and be able to experience it,” Hogan said.

Hoffman feels that the teams conquered the contest strong because they had specific characteristics that separated them from other teams, Such as their cooperation and teamwork  skills, math skills, plan layout and pace of build.

Although it is Hoffman’s 19th year in Construction Education, he still has the same passion for teaching as when he first began eight years ago.

“I enjoy seeing a student progress with his or her knowledge with tools and their use.  What started out as jitters has now evolved into respect and confidence with these tools,” Hoffman said.  “They can now take a piece of wood and create something out if it that can last a lifetime and more. It is great to be able to pass along knowledge and experience to students.”