Alex Privett has always loved to work with his hands, taking things apart and figuring out how they work. He’s the owner and principal at Alex Privett Woodworking, LLC., and his beautiful custom cabinetry is in high demand from home remodelers, restaurants, offices and new home builders. His shop, where he and his team spend much of their time, is just steps from his home, extra ideal because he and his wife have a two-year-old and a newborn. For him, an interest in electrical engineering and computers ultimately led to a love of woodworking. Moore Norman Technology Center (MNTC) fostered his interests and fueled his ambitions. 

 

“I've been building stuff with my hands since I was like five or six,” he said. “One of the first things I remember asking for for Christmas was wires. I built my first computer when I was seven or eight. When I was in middle school, I started prototyping CPUs, like designing them from scratch, well, more specifically, an ALU, which is a part of the CPU, which is part of your computer. I actually still have a drawing somewhere.” 

 

His journey at MNTC began his freshman year of high school. He spent the summer after eighth grade designing such elaborate computer circuitry that his parents decided learning electrical engineering would be good for him, and it was. With the training he got, he worked in IT for a bit. “Now I do it as a hobby.”  

 

Privett studied electrical, manufacturing and aeronautical engineering all the way through high school, took a year off, and came back to MNTC to learn woodworking. “I re-enrolled, still eligible for the tuition waiver, and I took a construction and cabinet making class,” he said. Privett comes from a family of builders, artisans and tinkerers. His grandfather was a welder who also built furniture, the other grandfather worked in aviation – mathematics and engineering – and his mother is an art teacher. 

 

The two overlap more than you might think. “I still use the manufacturing engineering every day,” he said. My first semester [in mechanical engineering], I took a digital design class. And my favorite part about that was that everything was on paper. So I learned how to do old school technical drawings and stuff like that, and that's a skill I still use to this day.” 

 

Alex Privett Woodworking, founded six years ago, makes roughly 1,500 cabinet doors a year, enough for approximately 30 houses, and business is growing leaps and bounds. “We’re getting ready to do another 300 of them,” he said. Privett smiles as he talks about his company, his love of woodworking and engineering and his time at MNTC. He describes his life as ‘perfect,’ and he means it.    

 

“I don't know where I would be at without Moore Norman. It's one of the best things that ever happened to me,” he said. “It was incredible. I mean, the opportunities it’s opened up are amazing. I don't know where I would be…my life would be completely different. I’ve got my shop, I've got an amazing wife, two amazing kids. Yeah…it's great.”   

 

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Established in 1972, Moore Norman Technology Center is viewed as one of the nation's premiere career and technical educational institutions within Oklahoma's globally recognized Career Tech system. Serving the Cleveland County communities of Moore, Norman, and south Oklahoma City, MNTC provides high school and adult students with an innovative technical career education. MNTC also offers customized workforce training to area companies allowing them to upskill their teams and achieve their business goals. Visit mntc.edu to learn more about classes and programs at Moore Norman Technology Center.