Sparks fly at the districtwide welding program weld-off

BOB MARTINSON/Frontiersman reporter

PALMER - A loud, zapping sound of welds being made filled the room at Colony High's welding lab Thursday, as smoke and sparks poured from behind protective yellow curtains that covered each booth.

Outside the rows of booths, student Dustin Czechowicz wore a determined look on his face as he cautiously read his directions. He flipped down his protective helmet and went behind a curtain, holding a gun-shaped wire feed welder in his gloved hand to complete the next step in his project for the weld-off competition, in which he was competing that day.

A judge stood behind Dustin, watching his every move.

Dustin took two six-inch pieces of a flat metal bar and positioned them so his weld down the long side of each piece would create a 90-degree angle, once they were welded together. Everything had to fit together for the final project, which was made in three sections, including the methods of stick-welding, TIG welding and MIG welding.

Dustin and nearly a dozen other gloved, helmeted and aproned students were demonstrating in the weld-off that they could follow directions from a blueprint, weld the same project and do it better than anyone else in the event.

Everyone's projects and directions were identical.

With anxiety on the faces of many, each student carefully read the directions, making sure their welds were made in the direction dictated in the competition's guide.

În addition, they had to make sure that they did each weld in the position they were told to do it in. For instance, "overhead" meant that the object had to be clamped above them and they were to perform each weld exactly according to directions.

If the judges found anyone doing something that was not in line with the specific directions, that person would get demerits. The judges kept a close eye, wandering from station to station.

There were many different parts to the project. Some had pipe pieces that needed to have rectangular ears welded onto them, others involved pieces of flat bar that would be welded into 90-degree angles and added to the final piece.

The projects were complicated and specific and each student operated efficiently, but with notable care to complete each step.

Students have to pass the rigorous test in Jack Simpson's districtwide welding program to progress to the next level of competition. The top four to six of the best welders will compete in the big state competition at the Martin Luther King Jr. Career Center, next to the University of Alaska-Anchorage.

That event, called the Skills USA competition, involves the best in the state and includes fields such as welding, wood shop, automotive mechanics, electronics and auto-CAD.

Simpson holds the districtwide career tech education classes, which involve high school students from virtually all of the Valley's schools, including Palmer, Colony, Wasilla, Houston, Pathways, Burchell High School and "maybe even a home schooler," according to Simpson.

"Every year in March, we go to this thing, and we enter the competition from this program and I can only take four to six kids, but I have 10 that want to do it, so we call this the regional weld-off," Simpson said. "So I set up this weld-off, and the kids weld in three different areas - they have an hour on each section. Number one is stick welding, number two is TIG or aluminum welding and number three is MIG or wire-feed welding."

Students have to build things by the blueprint, by dimensions and by the weld. After that, they have to take a written test. Each section is worth 100 points and the written test is included, to make a possible total score of 400 points.

Three men make up the "welding advisory board," and they do the line judging and final judging.

All of the youths get to go to the weld-off, but this is to determine if they can compete in the state welding competition. The others will still compete in other areas to do with welding, but in other types of competitions.

"If you can get into the Skills contest in welding, it means much more than just having a good résumé," Simpson said.

Last year's winner received more than $1,500 worth of prizes, including an $800 welder, $200 cash, a $500 ticket to Kansas City for the national competition, plus scholarship offers from UTI in Phoenix, Ariz., and another scholarship from UAA.

This year's Skills contest will take place March 1 at UAA's welding lab.

The Valley is always considered tough competition, and last year its students placed first, second, third, fourth, fifth, and eighth in the state competition.

"But you never know what kind of competition will show up there from year to year," Simpson said.