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WMIA Awards $29,000 in Scholarships

The WMIA Scholarship Foundation awarded $29,000 scholarships in 2007 to students seeking careers in wood technology, machinery and related fields. This represents a new high in scholarship awards.

These talented students were selected based on academic success, interests and special abilities. This year's recipients are:

Jordan Clous Backs
Pittsburg State University • Pittsburg, KS

Jordon grew up in Lockwood, Missouri. He will be entering his junior year at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, KS, this fall, pursuing a degree in Wood Technology with an emphasis in Wood Product Manufacturing and a minor in Business Administration. He is currently the president of his student

organization, the Society of Architectural Woodworkers (SAW) Club and plans to take an internship this summer. He took his first woodworking class as a freshman in high school. Jordon would one day like to have his own wood manufacturing business.
 

Brian David Beck
Pittsburg State University • Pittsburg, KS

Brian is 20-years-old and lives in Frontenac, KS. He recently completed his sophomore year at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, KS, where he is enrolled in the Wood Technology program and is maintaining a major-specific G.P.A. of 4.0. He is presently employed at Barnes Millworks, a manufacturer of custom wood

mouldings and architectural casework. When not in school, one of Brian’s favorite hobbies is working on old cars. He is currently restoring a 1972 Chevy Monte Carlo.
 

Matthew Loren Beverlin
Pittsburg State University • Pittsburg, KS

Matthew grew up outside the small town of Elbing, KS, where he attended Berean Academy and took four years of woodworking in his Industrial Arts class. He is presently enrolled at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, KS, pursuing a degree in Wood Technology with an emphasis in Wood Products

Manufacturing. He became a member of the Society of Architectural Woodworkers the first semester of his freshman year. This summer he is interning at Hardwood Cabinets in Burton, KS, where he hopes to achieve a better understanding of the wood industry and the logistical side of the business. Matthew would like a career in the wood products manufacturing industry after college.

David Jonathan Fales
California State University • Chico, CA

David is majoring in Construction Management at Chico State University with plans to obtain his Bachelor’s Degree in May 2008. In May 2007 he began an internship with Rudolph and Sletten, a commercial builder from Sacramento, CA, working on their Kaiser Hospital Project in Roseville, CA. David also stays

busy in his shop, spending weekends and breaks building casework for a set of kitchen cabinets, tables and an entertainment center. He is looking forward to applying his construction and woodworking education in the real world, and is interested in a career as a construction manager or a high school wood shop teacher.

Jeffrey Brian Perkins
Pittsburg State University • Pittsburg, KS

Jeffrey is a junior at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, KS, majoring in Wood Technology, with an emphasis in Wood Product Manufacturing. He took numerous hours of woodworking in high school, earning recognition and awards in the area Research and Development Forum and creating projects that

include tables, lamps, armoires and grandfather clocks. He also worked with a home woodworker, where he learned hand tool techniques. Jeffrey enjoyed spending time in other wood classes in high school, mentoring newer wood students and helping organize classroom activities with his instructor. He continues to work off-hours in the shop at Pittsburg State, helping to make router tables and keep the lab updated. He will be participating in an internship this summer at Wood Systems Inc. in Tulsa, OK. 

Corey Adam Rader
University of Rio Grande • Rio Grande, OH

Corey is a 2004 graduate of Monroe Central High School in Woodsfield, OH, and is entering his senior year this fall at the University of Rio Grande in Rio Grande, OH. He plans to graduate in May 2008 with a degree in Industrial Technology and Fine Woodworking, under the 2 plus 2 program. He is a

member of the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society, The National Dean’s List, and was a 2007 recipient of a Western Ohio Woodworkers scholarship, as well as a past recipient of a WMIA scholarship. Over the past three years he has completed woodworking projects that include: two Shaker night stands, a ball and claw Philadelphia low-boy, an 18th century Pennsylvania secretary, a veneered and inlayed federal card table and a set of four Pennsylvania side chairs.

Daniel Lee Roethle
Virginia Tech • Blacksburg, VA

Daniel grew up in rural Wisconsin, where his interest in woodworking began, doing small projects with his Dad and a neighbor. While attending Hartford Union High School, he progressed through its wood techniques program. During his senior year there, he also worked at a local cabinet shop in a co-op

program, giving him valuable real-world experience. Daniel recently completed his first year at Virginia Tech, where he is studying Wood Science & Forest Products, and is involved with the Residence Hall Federation and the Forest Products Club. He is excited about all the opportunities the university has to offer.
 

Nathan Ray Schrock
Pittsburg State University • Pittsburg, KS

Nathan is entering his junior year at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, KS. His aspiration is to obtain a degree in Wood Product Manufacturing and a minor in Business Administration. He grew up in a small agricultural community in south-central Kansas, where his interest in woodworking began as a child

while spending time with his father in his small home wood shop. Nathan has not yet determined exactly what career he wants in the woodworking field, but he is leaning toward the area of engineering fine architectural woodwork.

Thomas Walter Tuck, III
Appalachian State University • Boone, NC

Thomas began his woodworking career in the furniture program at Cedar Ridge High School, where he graduated. He is entering his senior year at Appalachian State University in Boone, NC, where he is double-majoring in Industrial Technology, with

concentrations in Furniture Studies and Business Management. Thomas has received the 2004, 2005, 2006 and 2007 WoodLINKS / AWFS Scholarship; the 2006 WMIA Scholarship; the Woodwork Institute Scholarship in 2006; and the 2005, 2006 and 2007 American Home Furnishing Alliance Scholarship. He is working this summer at the Association of Woodworking Furnishings Suppliers (AWFS) in California as the Education Department Assistant, in preparation for the AWFS Fair in Las Vegas. Upon graduation, Thomas would like to pursue a career in the furniture industry as a plant manager.

Scott Michael Vasey
Pittsburg State University • Pittsburg, KS

Scott was born in 1988 in Lincoln, NE and has lived there all his life. He first became interested in woodworking when he took his first woods class in middle school. He has taken several woods classes throughout his four years at Lincoln East High School, the last two years being in the advanced double

period class. One of the projects he worked on his junior year took him to IWF 2006, where he participated in the first WoodLINKS/IWF RTA competition. He recently completed a reproduction of a Frank Lloyd Wright Taliesin 2 floor lamp, which has been submitted for entry in the AWFS Fresh Woods Competition in Las Vegas, NV, in July 2007. Scott plans to start college this fall at Pittsburg State University in Pittsburg, KS, majoring in Woods Technology and earning a Bachelor’s Degree.