HUDSON — Jeff Webb, an advanced manufacturing teacher with the Hudson school district, has been named as one of 50 finalists in the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence for the fourth time. 

The awards will be announced in October. This year, a record 768 applications were received from 50 states. The 20 winners will be announced in October.  

In the prize application, Webb wrote: “Without a doubt, the best thing about my job is teaching my students through hands-on experiences. Nothing compares to it! I love it when they grasp a concept I have been trying to convey. The light goes on in their eyes, and I know they got it. I think I have had more ‘Aha’ moments in the last three years than in all my years of teaching science.” 

Fifty public high school skilled trades teachers are finalists for the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence. A total of $1.25 million in cash prizes will be awarded, when the field is narrowed down to 20 winners, according to a news release from Harbor Freight Tools for Schools. 

“We deeply appreciate the work skilled trades teachers do to prepare and inspire our next generation of tradespeople,” Eric Smidt, founder of Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, said in the release. “Their work is critical, because while our country’s need for building and repairs is growing, our skilled trades workforce is shrinking. High quality skilled trades teachers offer their students a pathway not just to a good job, but also to a meaningful career and a good life.” 

The 2022 finalists go through a second round of competition, where they are asked to respond to an online, expert-led learning module designed to solicit their insights and creative ideas about teaching practices. The finalists are also asked to submit a short video describing an aspect of their teaching that illustrates excellence. Two additional rounds of judging, each by separate independent panels of reviewers, will narrow the field to 20 winners and, finally, name the five grand prize winners and 15 prize winners. 

The five grand prize winners will each receive $100,000, with $70,000 going to their public high school skilled trades program and $30,000 to the skilled trades teacher behind the winning program. The 15 additional winners will each be awarded $50,000, with $35,000 going to their public high school program and $15,000 to the teacher, the release said. 

Webb was a seventh and eighth-grade science teacher at Hudson Middle School for 23 years before taking on the job as an advanced manufacturing teacher at the Southern Michigan Center for Science and Industry. The 2022-23 school year will be his fifth year teaching everything mechatronics which encapsulates Fanuc robotics, pneumatics and hydraulics, CNC machining, 3-D modeling and printing, and PLC (Programmable Logic Controllers) programming.   

Webb was just thrown into the position at first and learned as he went. A substitute teacher would oversee his classes once a week so he could job shadow and gain the industry experience he needed at local advanced manufacturing facilities. 

With the prize money, his class could get much needed computers. For his personal prize money, Webb said he and his wife could use it to visit his son who is in college and will be studying abroad next summer. Webb is hoping the fourth time “is a charm.” 

“Computers are always a big thing we could use in our classroom. We’ve got desktops that run various software that are getting old. So that would definitely be a bonus,” Webb said. “We do a lot of with the CNC machining. We mill chunks of aluminum and steel and those things, and that gets expensive, and printing filament for the 3-D printers gets expensive. So there’s never a shortage of materials and supplies I could use.” 

Superintendent of Hudson Area Schools Michael Osborne said Webb is more than a great teacher. 

“Jeff is an extremely dedicated teacher to both his students and teaching Mechatronics. He is a lifelong learner himself. He is continually attending training and other opportunities for further learning to challenge himself and to be able to challenge his students,” Osborne said in an email. “Jeff has been a long-time Science Olympiad coach at Hudson Area Schools. He recently stepped down as coach but developed a very competitive Science Olympiad program that has been extremely competitive at the local, regional, and State level. He is a highly regarded and respected teacher at Hudson, across our county and throughout the State of Michigan!”