George W. Settle III visited the village of Kehale, Lebanon in order to teach the older children in a home for orphans how to weld, but he spent his time doing far more than teaching kids how to weld. Settle helped expand a fence around the home in order to keep the children’s soccer balls inside the compound, completed a series of projects around the home, and played with the children, many who had been abused or had lived on the streets.
Settle spent seven weeks working at the home and playing with the children. He noted, “First, it is easier to teach a boy that knows nothing about welding than it is to teach a boy that knows how to weld wrong. And second, the problem with educating the boys on safety is that they immediately disregarded it; this is due to the culture they live in.”
Settle also build a welding table that his new students can continue to use as they practice their welding skills in order to find jobs as they grow older.
Welding Industry
Demand for Welders in Texas Sky Rockets: After a 10-hour shift working on part of Dow Chemical Co.’s $4 billion expansion in Freeport, Abel Garza spends two nights a week at a welding class conducted in a trailer across dusty FM 523.
Elsewhere, similar courses can cost thousands of dollars. But Fluor Corp. is offering the training to its employees at a considerable discount: It’s free.
That’s a bit of a gamble for the Irving-based construction giant. Welders in the Houston area are in such demand, thanks to the petrochemical construction boom, that companies are poaching workers from one another.
Welding Jobs
Praxair Funds 100 Welding Scholarships in New Orleans to Build Up Workforce: Delgado Community College is offering 100 full scholarships to its welding school as part of a workforce development partnership with Praxair Inc., a major industrial gases company.
The partnership, known as the Praxair Skills Pipeline, has provided more than $300,000 to train 100 new welders in an accelerated one-year program, according to a Delgado news release.
Grant Funds Training for Nuclear Welding Jobs in South Carolina: A $195,000 grant from the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, or NRC, will allow Aiken Technical College to design and implement a Nuclear Welding Systems program on campus to meet the critical demand for qualified nuclear welders in the CSRA.
The program will be a one-year, intensive pipe-welding-technology program and will be for experienced welders or an add-on certificate for students who plan to continue their education in nuclear welding.
Welding Education
Arizona Welding Student Prepares for Welding Competition: Isaiah Gaspar, a Kofa High School graduate and Arizona Western College student, has earned his place in the top six in the United States to compete at the American Welding Society U.S. Invitational Weld Trials. The competition will be hosted November 11-13 at the 2014 FABTECH & AWS Welding Show in Atlanta, Georgia at the World Congress Center.
Ohio School Wins Grant to Purchase New Lincoln Welding Machine: John D. Rockefeller IV Career Center welding [center received a] new Lincoln Electric Flextec 450 welding machine… The five-function machine was purchased at Hall’s Welding Supplies, of Calcutta, Ohio, with a $5,000 grant from ArcelorMittal.
Mississippi School Offers Welding Courses for Winter and Spring: Pearl River Community College is accepting applications for a spring semester welding course.
The class will meet from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m Monday through Thursday, beginning Jan. 6 and ending April 23. The classes will meet in the Career Education Building on the Poplarville campus.
The course offers an industry recognized certificate in welding, including applications for 10-hour OSHA certification, basic lift truck operator OSHA certification and NCCER certification in the core curriculum introductory craft skills and Welding Level 1 and Level 2 modules.â€
High School Prepares Students for Trade School: Instructor Zeb Ferguson shares, “A student that enrolls as a junior and successfully completes the two-year course in high school can enroll at Calhoun with half a year of course work behind them,” said Ferguson. “After a year and one-half of college credit, they can earn the associate degree and enter the labor force as an entry level welder at $15 to $20 per hour.”
Ferguson said the program was made possible at Hartselle High by a grant Decatur City Schools received to expand the welding program outside of Decatur. The grant was used to equip the old vo-ag shop with enough modern welding equipment to accommodate 18 students.”
Welding Events
FABTECH Comes to Atlanta on November 11-13, 2014: FABTECH is bringing together an anticipated 27,000 attendees and 1,400 exhibiting companies all under one roof. The show provides a backdrop for visitors to experience live equipment demonstration, find cost savings solutions, and network with industry peers throughout the 500,000+ square feet of show floor throughout the A, B, and C buildings at the Georgia World Congress Center.
The event also provides learning opportunities beyond the exhibits with over 100 educational sessions and expert-led presentations on the latest industry trends and technology in the metal forming, fabricating, welding and finishing industries.
