Four public high school welding teachers win 2019 Harbor Freight Tools for Schools Prize

Calabasas, Calif.-based Harbor Freight Tools has announced that four public high school welding teachers—Michael Schweinsberg, Jodi Lancaster, Jacob Leair, and Brent Trankler—are among the 18 winners of its 2019 Tools for Schools Prize for Teaching Excellence. The winners will receive more than $1 million in prizes.

Trankler, who teaches at Sikeston Career and Technology Center in Sikeston, Mo., is one of three first-place winners. The other three welding instructors were named second-place winners. Schweinsberg teaches at Carroll County Career and Technology Center in Westminster, Md.; Lancaster at Livingston Area Career Center in Pontiac, Ill.; and Leair at Grants Pass High School in Grants Pass, Ore.

The 15 other winners teach a variety of skilled trades subjects.

In addition to the more than $1 million in first- and second-place prizes awarded by Harbor Freight Tools for Schools, the company donated $32,000 to 32 semifinalists.