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About The daily Astorian. (Astoria, Or.) 1961-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 18, 2016)
10A THE DAILY ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, AUGUST 18, 2016 Welding: College will expand auto, ire science offerings Continued from Page 1A “I think it’s really import- ant for these kids to get a jump on this stuff,” said Bris- tol, who came from a fabri- cation shop to head the col- lege’s welding program through the 2000s. “Not all of them are going to go on to being engineers or teach- ers or whatever, and we need these people in the vocational ield to carry on. Every day, you handle something that’s been welded. Somebody has to do that.” A useful skill For many of the students in the program, learning to weld is an investment. Weld- ing positions are perpetually in demand, offer above-aver- age wages and often require an associate degree or less. “It’s just a skill I want to learn and get out of the way, and have something to fall back on,” said McCar- gish, who hopes to become a mechanical engineer repair- ing medical machines. “And it makes for a heck of a hobby.” When he’s not at class, Chase said, he works construc- tion six days a week with his father. “Next year we’re going to build a ishing boat, so I wanted to learn how to weld,” he said, adding he hopes to become employed as a welder at Lektro, a Warrenton man- ufacturer of electric airplane tugs. The genesis of the summer welding course started with Long, who said he had been trying to become dual enrolled at the college to take welding courses when Warrenton High School Principal Rod Heyen started putting together the class. In addition to working construction and managing moving crews, Long sings in choir and plays in orchestra, hoping to be a teaching assis- tant at his high school. For his career, though, Long said he wants to open a fabrication shop. “Our family’s a lot of jacks Warrenton High School student Christian Saputo grinds down the welding tables at Clat- sop Community College on the last day of class Monday. Photos by Edward Stratton/The Daily Astorian Harley Bristol, who headed Clatsop Community College’s welding program from 2000 to 2010, came out of retire- ment to teach Warrenton High School students during a summer course. of all trades,” he said. “We don’t stick to one thing.” Long will most immedi- ately be applying his weld- ing skills to the 8-by-20-foot frame of the tiny house he and his father are making over the summer. Keeping them interested Heyen said the summer welding program grew out of the high school’s frustra- tion in trying to it students into the college’s schedule and transport them to campus. He talked with Kristen Wilkin, the college’s dean of work- force education and training, and quickly set up the course before starting to ind potential students. Working with a slim bud- get, Heyen has had to be cre- ative in expanding career-tech- nical opportunities at his high school, which boasts a ish hatchery raising juve- nile salmon, a volunteer-run auto club ixing up and sell- ing cars, and robust robotics programs, but no traditional wood or metal shops. He often sends students to the college for academic and career-tech- nical courses, while offering college-high school courses in Warrenton. The hope among Heyen and Warrenton-Hammond School Board members is that more hands-on, career-techni- cal courses will help encour- age academically challenged students, especially males, who often graduate at lower rates than females. Less than 60 percent of males in Warren- ton graduated with the class of 2015, compared to 85 percent of females. Heyen found a partner in the college, which has had to pick up the slack since the closure in the early 2000s of the Area Vocational Center in Miles Crossing, where high schoolers from throughout the county used to go to learn trades. The college and local high schools signed an agree- Students from Warrenton High School got the chance to play around with plasma cut- ters on the last day of their welding class Monday at Clatsop Community College’s ca- reer-technical course. ment to offer career-technical opportunities after the cen- ter’s closure. Educators have been trying to rebuild offer- ings at the career-technical Marine and Environmental Research and Training Sta- tion campus that in the 2000s hosted as many as 60 stu- dents a year taking welding, automotive and ire science courses, when budgets were more lush. Wilkin said at a recent college board meeting that Astoria will be expanding its automotive and ire science offerings at the college, along with adding a course at the high school in industrial con- trol systems. Bristol said he is conident at least half the students from Warrenton’s summer welding course will return in the fall to take night classes, paid for by Warrenton-Hammond School District. “It was successful,” Heyen said of this summer’s trial run. “I want to try and take 15 underclassmen and do it again” next year. The hope is that students who complete the summer course will continue in night classes during school year, with some leaving high school as certiied welders. 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