North Clark County high school welders traveled to both Kelso High School and Centralia College last week to prove their welding skills.
Students from Battle Ground, Prairie and Ridgefield high schools first competed in a welding skills competition where they were judged on how well they made welding beads at Kelso High School on Wednesday, Jan. 29. On Friday, Jan. 31, the welders welded metal pieces together in the fabrication process at Centralia College.
Battle Ground High School welding teacher Tod Garred said the experience extends beyond the competition for the students.
“The value of it is obviously there’s a lot of jobs available in this sort of thing, and, you know, when they compete at these things, it gives them a real-world kind of experience,” he said.
Students demonstrated different welding processes at the competitions. The four processes that the high school welders displayed included gas metal arc welding, wire feed welding, shielded metal arc welding and tungsten inert gas welding.
Garred said often a high school welder can utilize his or her skills and apply them straight into a career after graduation. He said construction, steel working, manufacturing of numerous items as well as plumbing and pipefitting are a few of many pathways for welders.
“Building stuff, the airport has hired a lot of welders before,” Garred said, adding that Intel has also hired plenty of welders. “There’s different companies like Columbia and Tapani and Rotschy, you know, our Battle Ground area right here.”
In a welding class at Battle Ground High School, Garred said he tries to first bend his students’ work to test its durability.
“It’s probably the first step to certification, and so then they have that experience in a high school setting before they go on,” he said. “And so, you know, more experience is better, especially in welding. Doing it over and over and over again makes you better.”
U.S. Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, D-Skamania, has highlighted high school career and technical education (CTE) programs as being a major step toward completing the Interstate 5 Bridge construction project. She has said that project will employ a great number of local talent.
In February 2024, Gluesenkamp Perez and former Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg visited the Cascadia Technical Academy, which partners with 10 southwest Washington school districts to provide CTE courses. During their tour, they discussed the importance of supporting CTE to “help build up the next generation of the trades — which will work on projects like the I-5 Bridge replacement project,” according to a press release from Gluesenkamp Perez’s office.
