Fullerton works the wood

In the 700 Building, next to the parking structure, amid the cosmetology and law enforcement offices, there is a room with an unassuming, hand-crafted wooden sign on the door reading "Wood-Working Technology."

Many students never enter the 700 Building, unless they are enrolled in the school of cosmetology or a displaced math class, but the classes offered by the woodworking technology program are some of the most involved, hands-on training the campus has to offer.

David Hogan teaches the cabinet-making class, which is a unique program in the hands-on experience it provides to students.

According to Hogan, once a year, a student of the Woodworking Technology program is selected to have their kitchen remodeled by the cabinet making class.

"The students are taken through the entire process to help them develop real-world experience," said Hogan.

This includes planning, design, construction and installation of kitchen cabinets. The students are currently working on a classmate's home in Yorba Linda and learning of all the triumphs and defeats of the cabinetry business.

They are learning to deal with real world on-the-job issues such as re-planning and making adjustments to the cabinets said Hogan.

Hogan also explained some of the other programs offered by the woodworking technology program that include basic technical training and more advanced classes that involve the building of rocking chairs.

The students are taken through the entire process by Hogan, which includes selecting wood from a lumberyard to manufacturing their own chair or cabinet.

The rocking chairs are beautiful, hand-crafted works of art that can take some students three or four semesters to complete, explained Hogan.

The basic woodworking technology class is unique in that it is a general education course and a wide variety of students take the class and construct a cabinet.

"It is unique because they took a bunch of sticks and created something," said Hogan. "[It is] giving them a high sense of accomplishment."