As the semester draws to a close, the 12th annual Woodworking Celebration held an exhibition to showcase students projects from the semester.

From 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., the event was held in the Woodwork Building on campus, with various rooms open to showcase projects created by students. From cabinets, lamps, chairs, among other pieces and artwork, attendees were able to view a number of pieces created by students.

Aside from the student art gallery open to attendees during the event, there were also live demos done by woodworking instructors.

The remaining hour of the event, from noon to 1 p.m., was dedicated to additional woodwork and machine demos, raffle drawing and awards ceremony.

At 10:30 a.m. in room 13 of the Woodwork building, Benjamin Hernandez, woodworking instructor, held the first Wood Turning Demo of the day.

The demo showcased how to create a lidded dish, start to finish.

Throughout the demo, he not only gave step-by-step instructions to create it, but also gave tips and advice in between each step to further give detail on the process of creating the bowl and lid.

The demo included a number of different steps from shaping and sanding the wood, to applying the finish and accurately measuring the wood to create the right dimensions for both the lid and bowl.

Janet Lyons, a recently admitted student to Cerritos College, shared her thoughts on the event and how finding her passion with woodwork inspired her to sign up for courses on campus.

“I signed up for the Introduction to Woodworking summer course. I also just watched the Woodturning Demo and I’m fascinated by all the wonderful work done by students. It’s very encouraging to me.”

Throughout the first hour of the event, there was also a Student Gallery: People’s Choice Awards, where attendees could vote for their favorite piece, created by a student, on display.

There was merchandise and screen printing available for attendees to place orders for throughout the early hours of the event. Additionally, raffles and auctions were open at the beginning of the event for those wanting to participate, to view potential prizes beforehand.

A free lunch and dessert bar were also provided for attendees. The lunch bar served a variety of tacos, with rice and beans. The dessert bar had a variety of cookies, cakes, muffins, and other sweets free to take throughout the event.

Wendy Vernon, who enjoys woodwork, shared her thoughts on the event.

“Its pretty cool and I didn’t even know they had this. I love working with wood, this is right up my alley. I might want to look into classes too.”

Rachelle Soliman Grinyer, who is planning to major in furniture design, discussed her thoughts on the event and how she felt considering that she had a face frame cabinet up on display at the student gallery.

“This is so important for the students. It’s such a big support system to show each other what you’ve accomplished. Not only that, but its big gathering of the community to show what we can do and [Woodworking] is a really great program.”

Grinyer also added what makes following the program such a “passion” for her and the importance of the event.

“You get to really perfect a craft. There’s nothing better than when you find something you love and are able to share it with people…”