Students at the Willoughby-Eastlake Career Center provided 350 centerpieces ranging between 16 inches and 36 inches for a fundraiser held by several Cleveland area hospitals. The project aims to raise over a million dollars for Rainbow Babies, a program at the Children’s Hospital.
According to the News Herald: “Mentor High School junior Alaina Rae Riera and 47 other area high-school students will be prominently displayed April 12 during the ‘Ride the Rainbow’ fundraiser for University Hospitals Rainbow Babies & Children’s Hospital.”
The fundraiser’s theme is “Superheroes Unite,” and displays a series of welded art pieces that imitate downtown skyscrapers on each of the 120 tables at the sold out fundraiser.
The students will also enter their centerpiece project in the SkillsUSA competition for vocational and technical students the following month in Columbus, OH.
Here’s the latest in welding news this week:
Welding Industry
Women Step Up to Fill Welding Jobs: “Lisa Moran, 32, was a welder for about five years before she started teaching the skill at various local colleges. She’s currently teaching the skill at South Suburban Community College.
‘A lot of people think that this trade will be easy to learn, then easy to get a job,’ said Moran, whose students include three women. ‘The good news is this: The best part about welding is that anyone, from any background, can learn to weld.’ According to the welding society, the industry will need 111,000 new welders in the next five years.”
Welding Jobs
Montana College Receives Grant to Train Welders for Welding Jobs: “Great Falls College-MSU was notified on Wednesday that it will receive a $325,000 grant for its welding program. The money, which was allocated by the Montana Legislature in 2013, was awarded to help develop the welding program in an effort to keep pace with the increasing demand for welders.”
Welding Education
Lincoln Electric and Waukesha County Technical College Build Welding Lab: “Waukesha County Technical College and Lincoln Electric, which makes welding equipment, are partnering to create a welding demonstration and training facility at the college. The lab features a 4,000-square-foot space that holds 55 Lincoln Electric welding stations, which brings the technical college’s total welding space to about 8,000 square feet with 93 welding stations.”
Wisconsin Students Get Creative for Junk Yard Welding Contest: “Lincoln High School students are too creative to weld a sculpture of just any old fish out of scrap metal for the Chippewa Valley Technical College Manufacturing Show’s Junkyard Battle welding contest. ‘I came up with the idea of the fish body,’ said senior Nicki Danielson. ‘I just thought an angler fish would be awesome.’
But that wasn’t all. They had it in a tank of water, set up a system by which it could be raised from the tank by turning a wheel, had a spout of water coming out of its mouth through use of a pump system and integrated a little game with prizes.”
Welding Gone Wrong
Man Killed While Welding a Crude Oil Tank: “State police in Warren say 26-year-old Nikolai Briggs, of Clarendon, was on top of the tank when the welding torch ignited vapor inside the tank, causing the blast.”
Largest San Francisco Fire in Years May Have Been Caused by Welding: “Firefighters worked to stamp out the remaining hot spots Wednesday at an apartment complex that was consumed by flames in San Francisco’s Mission Bay neighborhood, as investigators looked into whether welding work ignited the inferno during construction of the huge project.
Hundreds of residents of homes in nearby buildings remained evacuated because the fire’s intense heat blew out windows, set off sprinkler systems and caused other damage.”
