Kaleb Engblom: ‘I just enjoy feeling accomplished’
Catherine Sweeney, catherine.sweeney@pioneergroup.com
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Engblom sits in his wood shop. He began using it when he was just 14 years old.
Engblom sits in his wood shop. He began using it when he was just 14 years old.
Photo: Courtesy Photo
Photo: Courtesy Photo
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Engblom sits in his wood shop. He began using it when he was just 14 years old.
Engblom sits in his wood shop. He began using it when he was just 14 years old.
Photo: Courtesy Photo
Morley teen takes pride in old-fashioned lifestyle
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MORLEY — While many teenagers spend their free time hanging out with friends or scrolling through their social media pages, one Morley teen, Kaleb Engblom, said he prefers to live life like the “old days.”
“I like the old days a lot,” he said. “I don’t like how people are so infatuated with their phones nowadays.”
The 16-year-old, who attends virtual school through the Tri-County Area Schools Success Virtual Learning Center, finishes his schoolwork by 8 a.m. to spend the rest of his day outside in his hand-built wood shop.
According to Angela Engblom, Kaleb Engblom’s mother, he spends each day doing a variety of activities, such as woodworking, hunting, taxidermy and more.
“He’s an old soul,” she said, adding Kaleb uses tools from the past to create handcrafted items, including his wood shop — which took him just two weeks to put together. “He’ll be outside working from the minute he wakes up until it’s dark outside.”
Though Engblom works hard every day to hone his crafts, he said he was not always this way. Building his shop when he was just 14, Engblom said his old-fashioned hobbies changed his life for the better.
“I never was much into playing video games or watching television, but I had gotten really overweight for my age,” he said.
With a plan to turn his life around, Engblom said he took inspiration from his stepfather and great-grandfather, who both were involved in similar hobbies.
“I just enjoy feeling accomplished at the end of the day,” he said. “Getting to look at my finished work is an amazing feeling.”
Now, after two years of diligent work, Engblom has perfected his hobbies, even turning them into a lucrative side business, working on projects for nearby individuals.
Though he is still in high school, Engblom said after completing his studies he hopes to move to the Upper Peninsula and turn his hobbies into his full-time career.
“Everyone has gifts,” he said. “I guess I’m just grateful to have found mine so early on.”
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