Port Orchard high school teacher wins $100K award for trade education

PORT ORCHARD, Wash. — A teacher from Port Orchard, Washington, won this year’s Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence Wednesday.

Jeff Winn, a construction and carpentry teacher at South Kitsap High School, won $30,000 for himself and $70,000 for his school’s program. Winn is 1 or 5 grand prize winners of the award, according to a press release from For Harbor Freight Tools for Schools. More than 20 trade teachers nationwide received a portion of the $1.5 million in cash prizes awarded Wednesday.

Trade teachers like Winn train students in construction, carpentry, welding, automotive, agricultural mechanics, advanced manufacturing and industrial technology.

Started in 2017 by Eric Smidt, owner and founder of Harbor Freight Tools, the initiative strives to grow the understanding, support and investment of trade education in the U.S. public high school system. The prize recognizes high school trade teachers who have specialized in these skills for the last eight years.

“I want my students to feel good about what they’re doing, I want my students to understand that they’re making massive contributions to our community, and I want my students to understand that what they’re doing does matter,” Winn wrote in his prize application.

This year, winners from 19 states including California, Colorado, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Carolina, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Utah, Washington, and Wisconsin. A full list of winners is here.

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