Implementation of an agriculture woodshop class in the Agriculture Department at Tokay High School

This project focuses on implementing an agricultural woodshop course at Tokay High School. This course is needed to expand the Agriculture Mechanics Pathway at Tokay High School. Currently, courses in the Agriculture Mechanics Pathway do not offer a variety of options. Students lack the opportunity to explore woodworking and carpentry skills. The Career Technical Education classes at Tokay High School have a need for curriculum development to help fill the growing job opportunities in the area of carpentry and wood construction. The development of an agricultural woodshop course will help close this gap, as well as expose students to new career opportunities by adding an additional elective course in the agriculture program. Lodi Unified School District desires to ensure students are both college and career ready. However, due to previous budget cuts, many high schools in the district lack a variety of options for students to achieve this goal. During the budget cuts, many career technical education courses were eliminated, including the wood shop program at Tokay High School. Since this course was eliminated, the wood shop facility has not been utilized to benefits students. Growing support of career technical education classes, coupled with the immense need to teach students soft skills for industry employment, justifies the, need to re-introduce a comprehensive wood shop program.