Fleming College

A recent Fleming College graduate has won the 2008 Wood WORKS! Student Wood Design Product Competition.Jessica Wagstaffe, a 2008 alumna of the Forestry Technician program, received a $3,000 award from Wood WORKS! for her design and creation of an innovative wood product with market potential. According to Wood WORKS!, the organization appreciated Jessica’s creative lamp design that incorporated low value wood – red pine – into “an intriguing product.”Jessica is the first recipient for this award from Fleming College. She is continuing her education at Guelph University in the Environmental Sciences and Natural Resource Management program.As part of the Forestry Technician program and within their Forest Products course, students were encouraged to develop and submit products to the Wood WORKS! competition.Gerald Guenkel, Coordinator of Fleming’s Forestry program, said his students are impressed with the level of commitment that Wood WORKS!, the Canadian Wood Council, and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources are placing into this creative competition with respect to the financial awards being provided.In 2009 Fleming’s Forestry program is again expecting many contenders for the top prizes. The top provincial project will win $5,000 plus the benefit of a high profile among businesses manufacturing wood-based productsWood WORKS! is a national campaign to increase the use of wood in commercial, industrial and institutional construction. The Canadian Wood Council leads this program with funding support from the wood industry, the federal government and provincial governments across Canada.      – 30 -For more information:     Laura Copeland, Communications Officer, 705-749-5530 x 1370 or copeland@flemingc.on.ca