CABINET BRINGS NEAR PERFECT MARK

Becky tops her class

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"It's my blog and I'll gloat if I want to. You would too if it happened to you!"
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It's not often that a grandfather gets to boast about a granddaughter making top marks in her "shop" class at school. So I'm taking full advantage of bragging rights.

This past school year my 16-year-old granddaughter Becky scored a mark of 98 for the pine cabinet she made in her construction technology class. The almost perfect grade topped the class of primarily boys even though she had two marks deducted on a technicality -- she forgot to sand her name off the bottom of the cabinet, of all things.

She said that her biggest challenge in making the cabinet was "having everything fit together properly." Now that she has had a taste of wood working, she did not hesitate to return to the course again this fall. Last year she was one of four girls in the class, this year she is the lone female and she doesn't seem to mind a bit, according to her mom.

The "best of class" cabinet was a gift this summer to her grandfather Koch, himself an Austrian trained master wood craftsman. Her dad, too, is gifted in the craft so it would seem that Becky comes by her new-found talent naturally. During the summer holidays, she tried her hand at restoration work, the porch bench she is shown sitting on (above photograph) was one of her projects.

Keep up the good work Beck. Always follow your heart and your instincts. There is no limit to what women can accomplish today.

I'm serving notice, however, to my two grandsons Ryan and Josh. Don't you guys dare come home from school with top marks in home economics. There's a limit to what makes a Poppa proud.