MEMBER NEWS: John Chakuroff, Port Charlotte, FL - Passing down the art of woodworking

THE VALLEY BREEZE: Passing down the art of woodworking

Not all members of the Smithfield High School community may know John Chakuroff, but there's a good chance that they've seen his woodworking creations all around the school.

A former woodshop teacher at Smithfield High, the 88-year-old Smithfield resident retired in 1990, he said, but has been coming back to help students in the department for the past 10 years.

"I want to pass my experience on to the younger kids," Chakuroff told The Valley Breeze & Observer last week, as he sat in one of the engineering and technology classrooms next to a row of computers where today's students design a lot of the products they make. "I really enjoy it."

Starting his teaching career in 1966, Chakuroff taught traditional woodshop to students, Jeff Macari, an industrial technology teacher at SHS, noted.

"The department still uses traditional woodshop, but in an engineering setting," he said. "There's a place for it. Some people want to get rid of it completely. That's not good." (9/23/2015)

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