Serving Boone, Blowing Rock, Banner Elk, and other towns of the North Carolina High Country
Founded 05-05-05
April 19, 2007 issue
Watauga High Students Welding Students’
Future Heating Up
Story by David Brewer
A group of talented students at Watauga High School causing sparks to fly in the classroom are attracting attention not only from school administration, but also from a potential employer looking to take advantage of the group’s skills and pay them well.
The group of torch-wielding students happens to be a handful of graduating seniors from WHS’s top-notch welding program, and the attention is coming from Rock Hill, S.C.-based Carolina Energy Solutions. The company specializes in complete field welding, machining, and post-weld heat treating and is looking to recruit the students for further training and job placement.
As some students prepared for their D1.13G welding certification, WHS Principal Angela Quick, along with ASU Technology Professor Marie Hoepfl, Watauga County Board of Education Chair Lowell Younce and Director of Vocations and Student Services Marshall Gasperson looked on as Carolina Energy Solutions Director of Education Al Lovins briefed the students on his company’s program.
“A good welder can really get a job,” said Lovins. “The demand is getting high.”
Lovins, who was instrumental in starting the company’s welding school, made a snap decision to visit WHS after a conversation with local welding veteran and first-year instructor George Wilson. According to Lovins, Wilson’s enthusiasm regarding the students and their welding proficiency convinced him to make the trip to Boone and talk to the young welders.
Lovins explained to the WHS welding students that participants in his company’s tuition-free program are paid $18 per hour during the four-to-five month hands-on training period. Following the completion of the program, the students are required to work for the company for a minimum of one year.
Part of the company’s focus is to train welders to work at nuclear facilities—a potentially lucrative field. Lovins said that because of the students’ training at WHS, they would likely be eligible to make $2 to $4 more per hour starting off.
According to Welding Technology Director Steve Ward, WHS welding classes currently have their highest enrollment in the program’s 12-year history, with 15 to 16 students in each of the five classes.
“We’ve grown it to the point where we need two instructors and a bigger shop,” said Ward. In addition to the outside employer interest, Ward and Wilson had another reason to celebrate as welding student Levi Watson took second place in the annual Skills USA State Welding Competition held in Greensboro on April 17.
Ward and a group of the graduating seniors will soon take a fieldtrip to Carolina Energy Solutions to visit the campus in Rock Hill in hopes that the school will be the right fit for students.
“This is just a great opportunity for these students,” said Wilson. “Steve Ward built this program from nothing. It’s number one in North Carolina as far as we’re concerned.”