SJHS teacher named 2022 N.C. Construction Trades Teacher of the Year

by JOHNSTON COUNTY PUBLIC SCHOOLS

FOUR OAKS — Carpentry is in Jack Littleton’s blood. That is why it is no surprise, except to him, that he was named Construction Trades Teacher of the Year by the North Carolina Home Builders Association.

A native of Benson and a graduate of South Johnston High himself, Littleton’s love of carpentry began at an early age. When he and his family moved to Benson from the country, his dad bought a 100-year-old house. He got to help renovate and remodel that house, which Littleton lives in today.

“My dad fixed everything.” Littleton said. “From electrical, to plumbing, to car motors.”

As a student at South Johnston High, he took four years of carpentry. “I’ve always looked back at that as another catalyst or spark that pushed me towards carpentry and construction as a career,” he said.

Littleton credits his teacher, Lloyd Rhodes, as a hands-on teacher. “We didn’t have textbooks when I took carpentry, and now there is a full curriculum,” he said.

During the summers, Littleton would work construction jobs, but he wasn’t measuring or cutting wood. He was handing up sheets of plywood to the carpenters, which took a lot of strength and perseverance.

His favorite thing about carpentry is the whole process from beginning to end, and the things that have to happen to make it come together. In fact, he said he used to lay in bed at night thinking about how to build something. “You’ve got to be able to visualize and put things together in your head,” Littleton said.

Once he graduated from high school, Littleton went to Johnston Community College, taking all of the required college courses. Then he transferred to the

University of North Carolina-Wilmington to study earth science. It took him no time to discover that carpentry was more than a trade to him. “I knew that (earth science) wasn’t my calling,” Littleton said.

The entire time he was in college, Littleton worked in construction. Once he was back in Benson he continued with his love of carpentry. His grandfather was a finish carpenter and recommended he do the same. He told Littleton that even if it was raining or really hot outside, he would always be able to work inside doing trim work. “That was my path,” he said.

He worked on custom homes for a while and then started his own business. “I do not mind work,” Littleton said. “I love to see things get done.”

In 2008, Littleton’s path took a turn and he began working with Johnston County Public Schools as a construction and carpentry teacher at Smithfield-Selma High, where he taught for seven years.

Then, Littleton’s path came full circle. He was offered a job as the core and sustainable construction and carpentry teacher at his alma mater, South Johnston High. It was a no-brainer for him.

“Who wouldn’t want to go to their home school?” he said.

Littleton has been happily teaching at South Johnston High for nearly eight years now. His favorite thing about teaching is the reward he gets from seeing students succeed. “There’s a lot of things that people don’t know about carpentry,” he said.

Littleton believes that carpentry holds the potential to unlock something in each student that may set them on a career pathway, just as it did for him. His classes aren’t just about cutting wood. He knows that it takes more than one skill to thrive in the real world.

Carpentry helps students in the real world by teaching employability skills such as critical thinking skills, time management and communication skills. “Communication is a huge skill to have for any job,” he said.

One thing that is absolutely necessary in carpentry is a strong math skill set. Students work a lot with fractions, and Littleton has had several students who have struggled with fractions at the start of the curriculum. He worked with those students and they became proficient through carpentry. “That’s a big reward,” said Littleton.

Another big reward for Littleton is when students want to know how to do something. He loves to share his passion with anyone who is interested. “It makes you feel great,” he said.

That’s why, two years ago, when Sherry Pinney-Phillips, executive officer for the Johnston County Building Industry Association, sent an email to all of the JCPS carpentry teachers asking them what they needed and how JCBIA could help, Littleton immediately responded.

He asked for some safety glasses, thinking he might receive a handful. Littleton was ecstatic when, not long after, he received a donation of 100 pairs of high-end safety glasses. “People don’t do that,” Littleton said.

Additionally, Pinney-Phillips and JCBIA donated a great deal of lumber to South Johnston. Littleton circled back to those all-important communication skills. “I answered her when she reached out to us,” he said.

Jack Littleton, South Johnston High Core and Sustainable Construction and Carpentry teacher, works with a student on a measurement for a project. He was recently named Construction Trades Teacher of the Year by the North Carolina Home Builders Association.

Littleton was so grateful for the donation because he realized that Pinney-Phillips understood that the construction teachers at JCPS are teaching the next generation of skilled trades workers. “They donated a lot to our program, and really helped us a lot,” he said. johnstonsup.org/ talk-it-up-lock-it-up/

Pinney-Phillips and Amy Cox, JCPS career development coordinator, developed a working relationship, and they were the ones that nominated Littleton for the award. “I caught wind that I had been nominated,” he said.

Towards the end of the 2021-2022 school year, he found out about the nomination when South Johnston Principal William Weaver, who Littleton touted as a big supporter of the program, and Pinney-Phillips came to his class. His class is not your typical “sit in the classroom” style of teaching. Littleton and two other students were on top of the roof of a building they had built, putting on shingles.

Pinney-Phillips and Weaver asked him to come down, and then told him that he had been nominated for the award. Littleton was excited and humbled. Then he sort of forgot all about it as summer came around.

The first day after summer break, Littleton checked his staff mailbox, and it was full as they typically are at the beginning of the year. But within the stack of regular mail there was a nice envelope with the return address of the NCHBA.

He went to his classroom, opened the envelope, and was shocked to see that he had been named the Construction Trades Teacher of the Year. “I was not expecting it at all,” Litteton said.

The first thing he did was call his wife, Stephanie, who is a firstgrade teacher at Four Oaks Elementary. Littleton was so in awe and humbled that he didn’t even feel like it was real.

He is friends with the other construction teachers around JCPS, and knows how hard they work. “I share it with them as well,” Littleton said.