Penn State Industries

My name is Shawn Jensen I am the instructor here at Reagan H.S. in San Antonio, TX. I teach Manufacturing Systems, Construction Systems, And Research and Design. In the classes students are taught how to build furniture, cabinets, pens, and other kits from Penn State. During the year I use the pens as a starter project before they start to build their piece of furniture for the year. I have also used the lathe safety to promote making a pen. I usually do a demo on how to use the lathe safely, and during that demo I produce a pen that will be used for a fundraiser so that my students can compete in woodworking contest at the end of the year. It is amazing how interested the students become in making a pen after a demo is completed. Students who thought they could never make something all of sudden in a hour have a beautiful pen that is finished and ready to be used. In the past I have also had groups of students working together to produce pens as if they were a company. In this group setting students have to perform quality control of the pens and then market and sell the pens for a fundraiser. In the past I have had several students purchase their own equipment so that they could have their own business to make some money. These students that have done this have been very successful and in some cases have bought more shop equipment for home use. In fact one of the students is in the pictures that has done this and on average can sell a pen for around $50.00. I really enjoy receiving your catalog and finding new things for the classroom. I can’t wait till I receive your lathe duplicator so that we can make chess pieces and copy table legs on it.

Thank you,
Shawn Jensen