By Dylan Kalkoske Posted March 20, 2017
On March 11, Welding teacher Andrew Meyer took a group of student welders to Reno for a welding certification seminar. Students welded with SMAW which is also stick welding and six of them left with a certification. The welders were Jesus Munoz, Kyle Lovell, Roland Clement, Brian Kelly, Ryan Bourland, and Derrick Lott.
Welding instructor Andrew Meyers took the kids to Reno to weld for two days straight to attempt to pass a certification test.
“The point of it was to give kids two days of welding nonstop to attempt to pass a certification test for the American Welding Society,” said Meyer.
This also gives the kids a good opportunity over other students and gives them a jumpstart to getting a job after school.
“The goal is this will help them on scholarships, it will help them get a job and puts them a step up from another high schooler that has taken welding all four years. Overall it’s just a huge opportunity and they will exit with something not many other high schools offer which gives them a huge jumpstart to getting a job,” said Meyer.
Some of the welders at the competition came into the class thinking it was going to be easy but soon realized there were many rules and it was a lot harder than expected. They were required to weld two ⅜ inch steel plates while following a bunch of strict rules and if one thing was wrong they failed even if the weld would hold the plates together.
