By GAYLE WEBER

gweber@dailynews.net

The projects on display at Friday's Western Kansas Technology Education Fair at Gross Memorial Coliseum took time -- in some cases an entire semester or school year -- to complete.

Then, there's James Kaufman.

The Hoxie High School senior took two hours of woodworking classes each day this year and still had to spend many of his weekends in the wood shop to complete his final project -- a walnut, rolltop desk.

With 35 drawers and compartments, the desk had every detail down to how easily the drawers rolled open and closed.

"I started at the bottom and worked my way up," Kaufman said. "Just the top alone took seven hours to make."

All of Kaufman's work was rewarded Friday when he was presented the Ed Davis Award for Woodworking.

The award is given annually to the creator of the best project in its class.

The technology fair has served as a learning opportunity and idea generator for Kaufman and Hoxie senior Cody Pope every year they've attended.

"You pick up a lot of your new creations here," said Pope, whose dresser picked up a blue ribbon for a "superior" project Friday.

Hoxie industrial arts teacher Randy Kaufman, James' father, encourages his students to bring cameras to take pictures of projects that could influence their next one.

Randy Kaufman has been bringing students to the technology education fair for almost all of his 35 years at Hoxie and entered 107 projects in the 50th anniversary event Friday.

"When we first came, we didn't have trailers or anything," Randy Kaufman said. "We pulled all the seats out of a bus and loaded (projects) in the back."

For Brian Boucher, a La Crosse native and woodworking teacher at Wabaunsee High School, it's a long trip to the technology fair each year -- about three hours one way -- but he knows it's worth it for his students.

"It wets the appetite for the kids to be involved," Boucher said.

Along with rewarding students for their efforts, the fair is a recruiting tool for Fort Hays State University. But faculty didn't have to do much persuading with James Kaufman.

The Hoxie senior already has decided to both follow in his father's footsteps and pursue something he's grown to enjoy himself. He'll enroll at FHSU next year to obtain a degree in secondary education and technology studies.

"I want to be able to share with kids what I've learned," James Kaufman said. "I think it's a good way to reach out to them."

But one concern floating among the teachers as they gathered for a brief meeting Friday morning was the ongoing battle to keep industrial arts programs afloat amid district budget cuts.

"Core curriculum is important," Randy Kaufman said. "I believe our job is to support core curriculum."

At Hoxie, all seventh and eighth graders are required to take a nine-weeks industrial arts course, which is why most of the projects Randy Kaufman entered in the fair were from junior high students.

He said exposing students to his classes early gives them a boost when they enter high school.

"If you stop and look at all the elective classes in our schools, our curriculum is so condensed that it's hard for them to make a choice for (industrial arts)," Randy Kaufman said.