A Paso Robles Teacher got a huge surprise from the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools.
Justin Pickard is an agricultural mechanics teacher at Paso Robles High School. His trades program was one of 15 second-place winners of the 2018 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence.
The prize received 550 applications from 48 states and Pickard is the only winner from California.
The prize, $50,000 for his trade program. From that money, $35,000 will go to Paso Robles High Schools skilled trades program and $15,000 will go to the individual teacher or team.
When Pickard found out about the prize he said he was surprised.
“It was a unique opportunity to be able to showcase my program, my students and all along the way, that’s kind of what I felt like this was about for me was to be able to show what my students and programs have done,” Pickard said.
The Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence was designed to recognize teachers in the U.S. who have outstanding instruction and inspire students to learn more about a trade that prepares them for a job when they graduate from high school.
