Bring Back the Trades (BBTT), a 501(c)(3) non-profit dedicated to bridging the skilled trades gap, has announced Hopewell High School in Huntersville, North Carolina as a June winner of the Bring Back the Trades Tool Grant Program. The award, made possible through the support of Milwaukee Tool, delivers a professional-grade Carpentry Tool Kit valued at $1,500 to the school's engineering and manufacturing program.

Hopewell's program runs as a student-run manufacturing enterprise rather than a traditional class, with 225 students designing, prototyping, and producing real products for real community recipients using 3D printers, CNC mills, laser cutters, and automation workcells. Two of the program's highest-profile projects, a container build and a Special Olympics trophy upcycling initiative, depend on precise wood-based fabrication. The miter and band saw currently used for that work are more than a decade old and struggle to deliver the consistency the finished products require.

“Hopewell's students aren't practicing on sample projects, they're manufacturing real products for real recipients on real deadlines,” said Shana Brunye, chief operating officer of Bring Back the Trades. “When a Special Olympics athlete is going to hold that trophy, the cut has to be right the first time. This grant puts professional-grade Milwaukee tools in a program that has already proven it can deliver.”

The award comes as North Carolina ranks among the top 10 states in the country for the largest skilled trades deficit by volume, according to workforce research released by BBTT in February 2026.

“I currently bring my own Milwaukee tools to school every day because I will not ask students to produce professional-level work with equipment that cannot support it,” said Christopher Desmond, who leads Hopewell's engineering and manufacturing program. “This grant puts that standard permanently in the room where it belongs.”

Safety at Hopewell is built into the physical structure of the program, with students moving between a dedicated classroom for design and planning and a separate lab space for hands-on manufacturing. Every student completes an OSHA-informed safety course and is checked off on each piece of equipment individually before working independently, and weekly Kaizen safety discussions have students identify hazards and propose improvements to shop protocols. Desmond noted that the program's aging saws currently produce excessive sawdust and debris, a respiratory and housekeeping concern across 225 students rotating through the lab each year, and that Milwaukee's professional-grade tools are built for cleaner cuts and compatibility with dust collection systems. Tool maintenance is treated as a graded enterprise responsibility, with students logging equipment condition and a student quality control lead accountable for equipment readiness alongside product standards.

Hopewell's Engineering and Manufacturing program has grown from 30 students in 2019 to 225 today. Since 2019, 100 percent of the program's students have earned college credit with a C or higher, and 40 percent have achieved platinum-level ACT WorkKeys scores three years running. Students have manufactured items ranging from teacher appreciation gifts to container project components and upcycled Special Olympics trophies, working alongside industry partners including Burkert USA and Alro Steel.

“Careers in the skilled trades start with hands-on experience,” said Scott Teson, senior vice president of skilled trades at Milwaukee Tool. “By helping students train with the same professional-grade tools used on jobsites today, we're helping them build confidence, develop real-world skills, and show them what's possible for their future.”

Milwaukee Tool invests more than $10 million annually in hands-on education to support the next generation of skilled tradespeople. In 2025 alone, the company supported over 600 apprentice graduations and donated more than $4.5 million in equipment to trade schools nationwide. This work is part of a broader commitment by Milwaukee Tool to invest $200 million in the trades by 2030, expanding access to training, strengthening workforce pipelines, and supporting the long-term growth of the industry.