A Safer Shop at the School Where It All Started
Champaign Central High School now runs a workshop where dangerous tools stay off until a trained student badges in, dust collection turns on by itself, and the air is monitored all day. The system was donated by three GRIT founders who graduated from Central — and built the company because of what they saw there.
Central High Improves Workshop Safety
It Started at Central
In 1996, GRIT founder Joel Danowitz watched a classmate get seriously hurt in shop class at Champaign Central High School. The memory stuck.
Years later, in his own shop, his young son powered on a tool with his hand near the blade. The boy was unhurt — but the scare was the catalyst. There was no good way to make sure only trained, authorized people could turn a dangerous tool on. So Joel set out to build one.
GRIT Automation was founded in 2018 by three Champaign Central graduates — Joel Danowitz, Marco Nieto, and Jaclyn Aldridge. Today the platform runs in shops across the United States, Canada, and Australia.
In 2026, the founders brought it full circle: a $41,000 workshop safety system, donated to the school where the story began. The Champaign-Urbana Schools Foundation named GRIT its 2026 Local Business Community Impact Award recipient.
What the System Does
The same platform GRIT installs everywhere — now protecting students in the shop at Central.
Trained Students Only
RFID badges limit each machine to students who have been trained on it. If a student isn't certified for a tool, it doesn't power on.
Automatic Dust Collection
Dust collection turns on the moment a machine runs — no student has to remember, and the air stays cleaner without anyone thinking about it.
Air Quality Monitoring
Sensors track air quality across the shop all day, giving staff a real record of conditions instead of a guess.
Maintenance Scheduling
Built-in reminders keep machines on a maintenance schedule, so equipment stays safe and serviced through the school year.
Why Schools Are Adding Equipment Authorization
A sign on the wall isn't enough. Shop teachers and CTE directors are responsible for student safety in rooms full of equipment that can do real harm. Equipment authorization gives that responsibility a physical backstop — and a record to stand behind.
Authorization
Tools stay off until a trained, certified student badges in. Access is tied to the training each student has actually completed.
Accountability
Every activation is logged to a person and a time — no more paper sign-off sheets nobody updates and nobody trusts.
Visibility
Real usage data and air-quality history — the numbers administrators ask for at budget time, ready to export.
Safety
A physical layer between an untrained student and a dangerous machine — not a rule on a poster, an interlock on the tool.
Operational Consistency
The same rules apply every period — whether the shop is quiet or slammed and no one is watching the door.
To give back, and to know that my product is going to ensure that what I saw happen in high school doesn't happen to someone else.Joel Danowitz · Founder, GRIT Automation · Champaign Central Class Graduate
The View From the Shop
"This is cutting edge — frankly things I haven't seen before. I didn't even know were possible," says Abraham Haile, the Champaign Central CTE teacher who nominated GRIT for the 2026 Community Impact Award.
Questions Schools Ask Us
What workshop safety system did GRIT install at Champaign Central High School?
A $41,000 workshop safety and automation system. RFID badges limit each machine to students trained on it, dust collection and blast gates run automatically when tools are in use, air quality is monitored across the shop, and maintenance is tracked and scheduled.
How does equipment authorization keep students safe in a school shop?
Each machine stays powered off until a student badges in with credentials that match the training they have completed. If a student isn't certified on that tool, it won't start — a physical interlock instead of a sign on the wall. Every activation is logged to a person and a time.
Why did GRIT donate the system to Champaign Central?
GRIT's founders — Joel Danowitz, Marco Nieto, and Jaclyn Aldridge — are all Champaign Central graduates. Danowitz witnessed a serious shop accident at the school, and later had a near-miss with his young son at home. The donation brings the company's purpose full circle to where it began.
Where else is GRIT Automation's system used?
In roughly 500 shops across the United States, Canada, and Australia — including universities, high schools, makerspaces, woodworking clubs, and manufacturers.
Can other schools get a system like the one at Central?
Yes. GRIT builds the same platform for high school CTE programs, university labs, and makerspaces, scaled to the shop. The best place to start is a workshop safety assessment.
From the WAND News Segment
Aired June 2, 2026 · Reported by Caryn Eisert, WAND News.
AnchorWe all want a safer atmosphere to work in. GRIT Automation recently installed a $41,000 workshop safety automation system in a Champaign high school. WAND's Caryn Eisert shows us more.
Caryn EisertThis is GRIT Automation, specializing in automation for woodshops, metal shops, industrial areas, and schools.
Joel DanowitzWe're in Australia, in Canada, and then we have 500 shops across the country — universities and high schools, makerspaces, and woodworking clubs. Anywhere the folks that run those places want to know who did what, when, and for how long.
Caryn EisertThat's Joel Danowitz. He founded this company in 2018 after nearly experiencing a woodshop accident in his home.
Joel DanowitzMy son, Ian — he pushed the big green button that turned on a tool, and his hand was near the blade, and it really scared me.
Caryn EisertThese powerful machines move fast, and if not properly trained, can change someone's life forever.
Joel DanowitzI saw someone hurt themselves quite badly at my high school.
Caryn EisertBecause of those incidents, Danowitz and his neighbor got to work creating a safety step that can help prevent a workshop accident from happening.
Joel DanowitzIt monitors your tools, and it knows when things are running and when they're not. And then we can automate dust collection and blast gates. So then we layered on access control — so only kids, students, that have the right level of training for these dangerous tools can turn them on.
Caryn EisertAnd most recently, GRIT donated a $41,000 workshop safety and automation system at Champaign Central High School — the same high school Danowitz went to.
Joel DanowitzTo give back, and to know that my product is going to ensure that what I saw happen in high school doesn't happen to someone else.
Caryn EisertAnd GRIT Automation was recognized by CU Schools Foundation and was awarded the 2026 Local Business Community Impact Award. Reporting in Champaign, Caryn Eisert, WAND News.
Bring This to Your Shop
Whether you run a high school CTE program, a university lab, or a makerspace, we'll help you build the same kind of system — trained-only access, automatic dust collection, and air monitoring. Schedule a free consultation; no pressure, just answers.
A Safer Shop at the School Where It All Started
Champaign Central High School now runs a workshop where dangerous tools stay off until a trained student badges in, dust collection turns on by itself, and the air is monitored all day. The system was donated by three GRIT founders who graduated from Central — and built the company because of what they saw there.
Central High Improves Workshop Safety
It Started at Central
In 1996, GRIT founder Joel Danowitz watched a classmate get seriously hurt in shop class at Champaign Central High School. The memory stuck.
Years later, in his own shop, his young son powered on a tool with his hand near the blade. The boy was unhurt — but the scare was the catalyst. There was no good way to make sure only trained, authorized people could turn a dangerous tool on. So Joel set out to build one.
GRIT Automation was founded in 2018 by three Champaign Central graduates — Joel Danowitz, Marco Nieto, and Jaclyn Aldridge. Today the platform runs in shops across the United States, Canada, and Australia.
In 2026, the founders brought it full circle: a $41,000 workshop safety system, donated to the school where the story began. The Champaign-Urbana Schools Foundation named GRIT its 2026 Local Business Community Impact Award recipient.
What the System Does
The same platform GRIT installs everywhere — now protecting students in the shop at Central.
Trained Students Only
RFID badges limit each machine to students who have been trained on it. If a student isn't certified for a tool, it doesn't power on.
Automatic Dust Collection
Dust collection turns on the moment a machine runs — no student has to remember, and the air stays cleaner without anyone thinking about it.
Air Quality Monitoring
Sensors track air quality across the shop all day, giving staff a real record of conditions instead of a guess.
Maintenance Scheduling
Built-in reminders keep machines on a maintenance schedule, so equipment stays safe and serviced through the school year.
Why Schools Are Adding Equipment Authorization
A sign on the wall isn't enough. Shop teachers and CTE directors are responsible for student safety in rooms full of equipment that can do real harm. Equipment authorization gives that responsibility a physical backstop — and a record to stand behind.
Authorization
Tools stay off until a trained, certified student badges in. Access is tied to the training each student has actually completed.
Accountability
Every activation is logged to a person and a time — no more paper sign-off sheets nobody updates and nobody trusts.
Visibility
Real usage data and air-quality history — the numbers administrators ask for at budget time, ready to export.
Safety
A physical layer between an untrained student and a dangerous machine — not a rule on a poster, an interlock on the tool.
Operational Consistency
The same rules apply every period — whether the shop is quiet or slammed and no one is watching the door.
To give back, and to know that my product is going to ensure that what I saw happen in high school doesn't happen to someone else.Joel Danowitz · Founder, GRIT Automation · Champaign Central Class Graduate
The View From the Shop
"This is cutting edge — frankly things I haven't seen before. I didn't even know were possible," says Abraham Haile, the Champaign Central CTE teacher who nominated GRIT for the 2026 Community Impact Award.
Questions Schools Ask Us
What workshop safety system did GRIT install at Champaign Central High School?
A $41,000 workshop safety and automation system. RFID badges limit each machine to students trained on it, dust collection and blast gates run automatically when tools are in use, air quality is monitored across the shop, and maintenance is tracked and scheduled.
How does equipment authorization keep students safe in a school shop?
Each machine stays powered off until a student badges in with credentials that match the training they have completed. If a student isn't certified on that tool, it won't start — a physical interlock instead of a sign on the wall. Every activation is logged to a person and a time.
Why did GRIT donate the system to Champaign Central?
GRIT's founders — Joel Danowitz, Marco Nieto, and Jaclyn Aldridge — are all Champaign Central graduates. Danowitz witnessed a serious shop accident at the school, and later had a near-miss with his young son at home. The donation brings the company's purpose full circle to where it began.
Where else is GRIT Automation's system used?
In roughly 500 shops across the United States, Canada, and Australia — including universities, high schools, makerspaces, woodworking clubs, and manufacturers.
Can other schools get a system like the one at Central?
Yes. GRIT builds the same platform for high school CTE programs, university labs, and makerspaces, scaled to the shop. The best place to start is a workshop safety assessment.
From the WAND News Segment
Aired June 2, 2026 · Reported by Caryn Eisert, WAND News.
AnchorWe all want a safer atmosphere to work in. GRIT Automation recently installed a $41,000 workshop safety automation system in a Champaign high school. WAND's Caryn Eisert shows us more.
Caryn EisertThis is GRIT Automation, specializing in automation for woodshops, metal shops, industrial areas, and schools.
Joel DanowitzWe're in Australia, in Canada, and then we have 500 shops across the country — universities and high schools, makerspaces, and woodworking clubs. Anywhere the folks that run those places want to know who did what, when, and for how long.
Caryn EisertThat's Joel Danowitz. He founded this company in 2018 after nearly experiencing a woodshop accident in his home.
Joel DanowitzMy son, Ian — he pushed the big green button that turned on a tool, and his hand was near the blade, and it really scared me.
Caryn EisertThese powerful machines move fast, and if not properly trained, can change someone's life forever.
Joel DanowitzI saw someone hurt themselves quite badly at my high school.
Caryn EisertBecause of those incidents, Danowitz and his neighbor got to work creating a safety step that can help prevent a workshop accident from happening.
Joel DanowitzIt monitors your tools, and it knows when things are running and when they're not. And then we can automate dust collection and blast gates. So then we layered on access control — so only kids, students, that have the right level of training for these dangerous tools can turn them on.
Caryn EisertAnd most recently, GRIT donated a $41,000 workshop safety and automation system at Champaign Central High School — the same high school Danowitz went to.
Joel DanowitzTo give back, and to know that my product is going to ensure that what I saw happen in high school doesn't happen to someone else.
Caryn EisertAnd GRIT Automation was recognized by CU Schools Foundation and was awarded the 2026 Local Business Community Impact Award. Reporting in Champaign, Caryn Eisert, WAND News.
Bring This to Your Shop
Whether you run a high school CTE program, a university lab, or a makerspace, we'll help you build the same kind of system — trained-only access, automatic dust collection, and air monitoring. Schedule a free consultation; no pressure, just answers.