Mr. Darryl Hebble, Lowell High School’s machining instructor, won $14,000 from the Gene Haas Foundation for the school’s machining program. He won this money back in March of 2025, but the funds are going to be used for the 2025-26 school year. The money was granted by the Gene Haas Foundation, whose goal is to provide financial and tooling assistance for Precision Machining students.

One of the requirements for this grant is to be a High School Precision Machining Program with CNC machines. Mr. Hebble has four CNC Machines, with his two lathes being the TL1 & the ST10Y, and the 2 mills being the TM0P & the Mini mill.

When asked what he would do with the grant, Mr. Hebble said the funds will go to tools, materials, equipment, schools related competitions, as well as financial and tooling scholarships for graduating seniors that want to go into the machining field.

Lowell has offered a Precision Machining program since 2019. This year, there are about 65 students taking the machining class.

Machining students also have the option to participate in competitions, with the three main competitions being INTMA, Project Manufacturing, and SkillsUSA. In INTMA, we have had students who took 1st, 2nd, and 3rd places; in SkillsUSA we have taken 1st in the Advanced Manufacturing and 2nd in Manual Machining; and for Project MFG, the team has made is to regionals twice and one individual make to the championship round.