After I finally received my latest American Woodturner (the first one is MIA in the postal system), it was a great pleasure to read updates about the Southeast Oklahoma Woodturners and the Bay Area Woodturners. These are two very successful programs to be admired and “copiedâ€. Did you see that the AAW had 25 new chapters chartered, 34 chapters celebrating 10 to 20 year anniversaries, and around 283 total chapters. If each chapter currently runs or starts a youth program with a goal of 10 new students per year, that’s 2,830 new kids exposed to woodturning. This is an extremely attainable goal with Phase 1 of the AAW’s Young Turners Program. Phase 2 is also very attainable for all of our excellent chapters and their members.
Starting a youth turning program should be of paramount priority of any chapter that doesn’t currently run one. Spring is an excellent time to lay the foundation. There are many summer youth camps, church camps, etc…. to partner up with. It’s a good time to start working with Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and other youth organizations planning their calendars for the upcoming fall. Even schools, junior and senior high shop or art classes need to plan curriculum for next year. There are so many avenues for youth education that have yet to be utilized. To get started with your chapter’s youth program, go to the AAW website’s Community page and select youth program. If you have questions I may be reached at DaveBowers@woodturner.org, through the WoW website email, or through the AAW website forums or community youth program page.
Dave Bowers
P.S. If you have updates to your current youth program and/or pictures of the projects and participants, I would love to see them for possible future youth turning articles.
Starting a youth turning program should be of paramount priority of any chapter that doesn’t currently run one. Spring is an excellent time to lay the foundation. There are many summer youth camps, church camps, etc…. to partner up with. It’s a good time to start working with Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, and other youth organizations planning their calendars for the upcoming fall. Even schools, junior and senior high shop or art classes need to plan curriculum for next year. There are so many avenues for youth education that have yet to be utilized. To get started with your chapter’s youth program, go to the AAW website’s Community page and select youth program. If you have questions I may be reached at DaveBowers@woodturner.org, through the WoW website email, or through the AAW website forums or community youth program page.
Dave Bowers
P.S. If you have updates to your current youth program and/or pictures of the projects and participants, I would love to see them for possible future youth turning articles.