Welding Pathway students at Jones County College and Career Academy received national certification last week that puts them on a productive career path for their lifetimes.
According to its website, American Welding Society certification is authentication that the holder has met the rigorous assessment processes established by the AWS Qualification and Certification Committee.
The certification has been widely accepted in the United States and even many of the major industrial countries in the world, and it is the professional certification for welding quality control personnel.
Instructors from the Northfolk Southern Training Center, one of the few AWS testing centers in Georgia, Matt Williams and Brandon Gattie, came to Jones County to test welding students the first week of May.
The American Welding Society (AWS) was founded in 1919 as a nonprofit organization with a global mission of advancing the science, technology and application of welding and allied joining and cutting processes worldwide.
Gattie and Williams were back in Jones County May 11 to hand out certificates to the AWS certified students. Gattie said all the Jones County High School students who took the nationally accredited tests passed, and that is rare. He explained some of the students took the flat test and others took the advanced 3G and 4G tests, which are extremely hard.
“You should be proud of the certification; not many have it,” Gattie said.
He told the students the certification would look good on their resume wherever they decide to work. Gattie went on to say as far as he knew, JCHS was the only high school to participate in the testing.
After handing the certificates to the students, Williams went over them and told students the documents were their proof of certification until they received their AWS cards in the mail.
“The certification is good indefinitely as long as you maintain work,” he said. “This took a lot of work and practice, congratulations.”
The certification recipients included five seniors. Jacob Fordham said he has taken welding for two years and received 3G and 4G certification. He said i already employed workin as a huge equipment tech for Caterpillar.
Brad Pelt has also been welding for two years and is considering several options for employment.
“This class definitely helped with my future,” h said.
Jacob James said he is already using his welding skills in his job as a machinist at Elliott Machine Shop.
Twins Lexi and Laci Kiser are both employed. The sisters said their grandfather was a boilermaker, and they feel the profession runs in the family. Laci was snapped up by IBEW 1316 Electrical Union in Macon, and Lexi has been hired by General Steel.
JCHS Welding teacher Mark Smith said he has 23 welding students, and all but one has been placed in a job.
“That one just hasn’t made up his mind, which opportunity to accept,” he said.
Smith said earning the welding certification can guarantee a student’s future. He said the Kiser twins were planning to go to college but changed their minds when they entered the welding pathway. He said Lexi was planning to teach.
“I taught both of their parents years ago,” he said.
Smith said he suggested to Lexi that she also pursue an associate’s degree at Central Georgia Technical College.
“She’s planning on taking my job,” the teacher commented.
