When I was in junior high school, all the boys had to take wood shop. I wasn't the best student in the class, but I remember every project I made.  It was fun.

That’s why I'm excited to be at Maplewood High School in the Crawford County community of Townville. There are some adults that are visiting the school's wood shop. They are sharing their love of woodturning. That's the art of making beautiful things with a piece of wood, a lathe, and a chisel. These adults are members of a group called the Presque Isle Woodturners. Mark Rose is the president of the organization.

"It's a chance for many of our members to come out and share their skills and techniques with some students and share our love of woodturning and woodworking with them,” he says.

Mark says you can get a lot of satisfaction by taking a plain piece of wood and chiseling it into a beautiful finished product. The woodturners brought some examples of their finished projects to the school. They are fabulous. There’s a cowboy hat, a baseball cap, and a genie's lamp. Bert Sturdevant is the wood shop teacher at Maplewood and also a member of Presque Isle Woodturners. He has a lot of hopes for this day.

"To be a woodturning artist, a lot of people aren't going to make a living doing that. But, learning to work with your hands and handle tools and equipment, yes, that's a family sustaining job,” he says.

Each student is making a wooden bowl. They are quickly getting the hang of gliding a chisel over the wood. The wood chips are flying. The students are also learning how to burn a fancy design onto their bowl. Sydney Preston is one of Mr. Sturdevant's wood shop students at Maplewood. She says working with wood is a relaxing way to take her mind off her other studies.

"This is my first bowl I will be turning today,” I'm super excited about it. I've been waiting for it,” Sydney says with a smile.

Presque Isle Woodturners received a grant from the American Association of Woodturners to hold this class. Students from a couple other school districts have joined students from Maplewood for this special day. It is hoped the students enjoy the experience enough that they would want to join the local woodturners group.

The organization was organized 25 years ago. It currently has about 75 members. They are always willing to welcome new members to the group. They meet the first Wednesday of each month to listen to presentations and to show off their projects. They meet at St. Mary’s Studio at 310 East 10th Street. For information about joining, log on to the group’s Facebook page.