Champaign Central Alum Donates $41,000 Safety System to Prevent Shop Accidents He Witnessed as a Student
Champaign Central High School graduate Joel Danowitz donated a $41,000 safety system to his alma mater, using technology his company GRIT Automation developed after he witnessed a shop accident as a student in 1996.
A high school shop accident that left Joel Danowitz shaken as a teenager has returned to Champaign Central High School in the form of a $41,000 safety donation designed to make sure no student goes through what he did.
Danowitz, a Central graduate and founder of GRIT Automation, recently donated a workshop safety and automation system to the school. The technology uses RFID badges to restrict equipment access to only students who have completed the required training for each tool.
A Childhood Trauma Turns Into a Business
Danowitz said the idea for the company began in 1996, when he witnessed a classmate suffer a serious injury in Central's shop class. The memory stayed with him for decades.
The concept gained urgency in 2018, when Danowitz found himself in a similar situation with his own son.
"In 2018, I was in my shop with my son Ian, and he pushed the big green button that turned on a tool. His hand was near the blade, and it really scared me. It brought back the memories of when I saw someone hurt themselves quite badly at my high school."
Danowitz partnered with neighbor and fellow Central graduate Marco Nieto to build a system that could prevent those kinds of accidents in educational workshops.
How the System Works
The donated system does more than control access. It runs the entire shop environment.
Key features include:
- RFID badge access control that locks out students who have not been trained on specific machines
- Automatic dust collection that activates when machinery is running
- Air quality monitoring throughout workshop spaces
- Equipment usage tracking with built-in maintenance scheduling alerts
"We layered on access control so only students who have the right level of training for these dangerous tools can turn them on," Danowitz said.
The system also reminds staff when routine maintenance is due on tools, helping the school protect its investment in expensive shop equipment.
From Basement Startup to Global Reach
GRIT Automation has grown from a basement project into a company with installations in approximately 500 shops across the United States. The company also has clients in Canada and Australia.
All three of the company's co-founders are Central High School graduates: Danowitz, Nieto, and Jaclyn Aldridge.
"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," Danowitz said.
Recognition at Home
The Champaign-Urbana Schools Foundation honored GRIT Automation with the 2026 Local Business Community Impact Award earlier this year. Danowitz said the recognition meant a great deal.
"It felt amazing," he said. "This dream that we had in the basement, really kind of seeing it for real and being honored in my hometown."
The donation brings the company's technology full circle, returning to the very school where the idea was born nearly 30 years ago.