(KIWA Staff Photo)Rock Rapids, Iowa — A Central Lyon teacher is among only 25 in the nation to receive a teaching prize, and he and his school have won $75,000.
Grant Engel is Central Lyon’s Industrial Technology teacher. He teaches classes like construction trades, wood and metal shop classes, and so forth. He and the Central Lyon students gathered in the gym Tuesday morning were under the impression that they were there for a routine assembly when Chris Calvert, a district manager with Harbor Freight, came up to the mic, and Mr. Engel’s wife and children pushed a brand new purple wheeled toolbox into the room.
A large check that had been lying on the toolbox was propped up, revealing the $75,000 amount from the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence. Central Lyon is to receive $50,000, and the other $25,000 is to go directly to Mr. Engel.
Central Lyon Principal Jason Engelman says that Mr. Engel deserves the prize.
We asked Mr. Engel how he felt to receive the prize.
He says he’ll be in discussions with Central Lyon Staff, his students, the school board, and others as to how to use the $50,000 the school received. He did say that he applied for the prize because he was interested in getting a heavy equipment simulator for Central Lyon.
Calvert, from Harbor Freight, says the Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence program has been going on for about ten years. He tells us what set Engel’s application apart from others.
Among other accomplishments, Engel partnered with a local electrician company to develop a residential wiring course. He expanded his program from 14 students to 80. And when he started at Central Lyon in 2015, he helped the students build a tiny house. That continued for a while, and now for the last several years, they’ve been building full-sized houses in Rock Rapids.
Engel is one of two Iowa teachers to win the prize this year. The other prizewinning teacher is Chad Donahue, who teaches welding at Des Moines Public Schools Central Campus.
