JOHNSON — When Ashton Bohling came to Johnson-Brock Public Schools three years ago to teach industrial tech, she had plenty to learn herself.
While she'd taught agriculture education and welding before at Conestoga and Auburn, the Plymouth native didn't have much experience in the other fields her class would cover.
So she reached out to her college instructors, construction companies, woodworkers and mechanics to get up to speed.
"It's definitely been a learning experience," Bohling said.
The lesson here is to never stop learning. But there's also another phrase that applies to Bohling's career: Perseverance pays off.
Tuesday during a surprise ceremony in the Johnson-Brock gym, Bohling was named the winner of the Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence. It was her third year applying for the grant.
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"I was really shocked and surprised," Bohling said. "I wasn't expecting this."
She is one of just 20 skilled-trade instructors nationwide to receive the award, sponsored by the charitable foundation of Harbor Freight Tools, a national tool and equipment retailer with stores in Lincoln and Beatrice.Â
The prize comes with a $50,000 check: $15,000 for Bohling and $35,000 toward her industrial tech program.
It's a program she's helped grow over the years by improving the school's shop space, adding new equipment and expanding her curriculum.
"She's a go-getter," Johnson-Brock High School Principal Lucus Dalinghaus said.Â
The award noted the "solutions-based culture" Bohling has created at Johnson-Brock, in which students brainstorm and create their own projects, including developing small-engine tool kits, redesigning oxyfuel stations and creating tool hangers for welding booths to keep track of tools.Â
Under Bohling, students also developed a lawn-mower maintenance company out of the program's shop, blending hands-on work with real-world experience in sales, marketing and other skills.
"She's not really someone who will say 'no' to a project," senior Natalie Clark said. "She's very much someone who is open to your creativity and there to help you achieve that."
Last year, Bohling created a skilled-and-technical sciences advisory council at Johnson-Brock, pairing students with industry professionals to identify skills students need to enter the workforce.Â
The council is also a way for students to network with local businesses for job shadows, interviews, apprenticeship programs and field trips.
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"The trades are something that we've been pushing for a long time ... and Ashton's just taken it to another level," Superintendent Jeff Koehler said. "The trade industry needs people right now, and what better way than to teach those skills in the classroom."
Senior Chase Holthus, who is eying a career in wind energy, appreciates how Bohling's classes are hands-on and often take place out in the field.
"She doesn't spend too much time in the classroom," he said.Â
Bohling started her teaching career at Omaha Bryan High School, before moving on to Conestoga, Auburn and finally Johnson-Brock, a K-12 school of more than 360 students in Nemaha County.
She sees her classes as a break in the day for her students, an opportunity for them to move around, create, design and problem-solve.
Industrial tech also teaches much-needed skills that are in high demand and aren't going away anytime soon.
"We're not going to be able to outsource a mechanic, we're not going to be able to outsource an HVAC tech," she said. "We need electricians, we need welders. And they're great careers for kids where they can make a decent living."
The Harbor Freight Tools award was started in 2017 by founder Eric Smidt to advance skilled-trades education in the U.S.
This year's winners are from 15 states. There are five grand-prize winners who receive $100,000, while the 15 other winners each receive $50,000.
This year's contest drew from 768 applications from all 50 states and included three rounds of judging by experts from education, trades, philanthropy and more.
Bohling hasn't thought too much about how she'll use the money. She said there are some tentative plans to redesign the shop space and adding a concrete pad outside for use in the school's building construction class.
Either way, the money will help students learn.
"She deserves it," Holthus said, "and it will be put to good use here."