ASSEMBLING AGRICULTURE CAREER : YOUNG MAN WINS TRIP TO CONTEST IN FARMING SKILLS.

Byline: Karen Maeshiro Daily News Staff Writer

Give 19-year-old Matthew Pawlak a welder's torch and enough metal, and he can craft anything from a barbecue to a spike-tooth harrow.

Pawlak's skills at designing and building agricultural implements from scratch have earned him the honor of being named one of four national finalists in an agricultural mechanics competition held by the Future Farmers of America.

``I take a pile of materials and make something that really looks good and is pretty valuable,'' said Pawlak, a 1995 graduate of Littlerock High School and a Lake Los Angeles resident.

After advancing to the national finals through several tiers of competition, Pawlak will represent Littlerock High as well as the state FFA and the FFA of the Western region, which encompasses 13 states, at the national FFA convention in November in Kansas City, Mo.

Lloyd Doster, one of Pawlak's former high school agricultural teachers, said in his nearly three decades of teaching, Pawlak is only one of three Antelope Valley students he knows of who has reached that level of national competition.

``It's very difficult (to do), and it's very prestigious for the individual who attains it,'' said Doster, who teaches agricultural science and agricultural mechanics at Littlerock High. ``It's not one that you can get on an every-year basis.''

Pawlak now attends California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, where he is majoring in agricultural engineering, which involves studying civil, electrical and mechanical engineering.

Pawlak said he would like to pursue a career in mechanical design where he would design specialty agricultural equipment.

He's home for the summer now, working as a welder for a Quartz Hill company.

``It was all worth it,'' said Pawlak, reflecting on his hard work during high school. ``I started a job as a welder, and I wouldn't have been able to do it without the experience that I had.''

To recognize Pawlak's accomplishments, the Antelope Valley Union High School District board last week approved assisting Pawlak to attend the competition by providing $550 to cover air fare, motel, ground transfers, and the convention registration fee, plus meal expenses.

Pawlak competed by submitting a 23-page application which documented his work during his four years of high school in the field of agricultural mechanics.

It included information and pictures on equipment he has built or serviced and engines he had repaired, records of income and expenses, the different jobs he has worked related to the field, and fairs he has participated in.

``It shows he excelled in the area of agricultural mechanics,'' Doster said. ``He's very proficient in welding and machinery.''

Pawlak estimates he has completed more than 200 projects, everything from small electrical work and woodwork to large welding projects.

Pawlak doesn't come from a farming background. His father is a heavy equipment mechanic with the California Department of Forestry and his mother is a housewife.

``My dad taught me how to weld, he taught me how to make equipment, and that's how I got interested,'' Pawlak said. ``When I got to high school, I basically found out about FFA and started doing projects for the Antelope Valley Fair and the Los Angeles County Fair.''

For fairs, Pawlak built different items to sell. For example, the priciest equipment he sold was an agricultural spray rig with a 10-foot boom with nozzles and a 65-gallon tank. The rig won best of show at the Antelope Valley Fair in 1994 and sold for $1,200.

Among the bigger equipment he has created are a 7-foot-wide spike-tooth harrow, and an 8-foot flatbed trailer.

A lot of people have approached him with custom orders for things like barbecues and planter boxes, he said.

He also put his experience to good use by building things to use around the house, such as small tractor implements to help with the gardening.

In 1993, Pawlak and two other Littlerock High agriculture students, Chris Doster and Ryan Campbell, placed fifth out of 41 school teams in the tractor and tractor safety event in the FFA's state competition.

In that event, students race against the clock to hook up tractor attachments, drive tractors through obstacle courses, identify tractor parts, trouble-shoot and complete written math and safety tests.

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2 Photos

Photo: (1--ran in SAC and AV--color in AV only) MatthewPawlak, 19, is one of four finalists in a Future Farmers of America competition to be held in November.

(2--ran in SAC and AV--color in AV only) Matthew Pawlak of Lake Los Angeles shows a 1957 Ford tractor which he rebuilt.

Jeff Goldwater/Daily News