CMR shop department ends on strong note Senior prepares for welding career jennifer verzuh
Many high school students are unsure when it comes to choosing a future career, and even if they have one in mind they often don’t take the initiative to work towards that goal. C. M. Russell High School senior Zackary Brown is different. Brown is planning on pursuing on a career in welding, which he has been involved in since his freshman year. He has taken three welding classes at CMR and is currently taking one dual credit welding class at Montana State UniversityGreat Falls College of Technology (COT). Brown was Senior Zackary Brown poses in the CMR welding room. attracted to This is his fourth year studying welding by the welding. Photo by Jennifer “hands-on” asVerzuh. pect about it and soon found he had gotten “good at it.” Brown recently competed in the MSUCOT regionals on March 11, where he received first place in stainless and mild steel, GMAW, SMAW welding. “I won a 250 Pearl Esab,” he said. A 250 Pearl Esab is also known as a wire feed welder. Brown said he enjoys the hands-on experience about welding and believes it’s a good job and “a trait that’s rarely used.” Brown is considering attending college for the trade at MSU-COT in Great Falls.
May 5, 2011 The Stampede
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A day in industrial tech
Sophomore DJ Sergent works on his project for woodshop class. Photo by Shayna Leonard.
CMR shop students attend statewide competition jennifer verzuh
C. M. Russell High School senior Valorie Oldfield was one of nine Rustlers to attend the annual SkillsUSA competition April 11-13 yet she was the only girl to go from Great Falls and “was one of two girls in the competition.” However, this was no disadvantage, as Oldfield came away with the title of best drafter in Montana. During the summer she will be attending the national rounds of the SkillsUSA competition in Kansas. Oldfield has been involved in drafting classes for three years and plans to continue in college. “I’m going into mechanical engineering in college,” Oldfield said. She will be attending Washington State University-Vancouver. “I like the fact that you can put different objects on the computer and mess with them and play with
them and have them still be the same project,” she said. For the competition, Oldfield drafted up a gyroscope and gave a presentation about it. SkillsUSA is an annual statewide competition that tests students in the fields of carpentry, woodworking, welding, drafting, and auto shop. Three to four students from each of these areas are chosen to attend the competition. This year, students were accompanied by welding and machining teacher Paul Hogan. Hogan said SkillsUSA is an “all hands-on” competition focusing on each of the students’ areas where they build parts according to specific instructions and are individually judged. For students to be chosen to attend this competition “they have to excel in their individual areas,”
Hogan said. In addition to Oldfield’s victory, senior Dean Stoller received second place in carpentry. “They’re very dedicated,” Hogan said of Oldfield and Stoller. “And when they work hard and put in that much effort they’ll do well.” All of the CMR students who attended the competition placed in the top 25 percent , according to Hogan. “I’m just proud of these kids and the effort they put out,” Hogan said. “They worked hard and deserved everything they got out of it.” Other students who attended the competition are Jaycen Cole, Marc Oldham, Travis Price, Eric Students work to accomplish Wilcox, Gavin McClain, James and repair projects in shop Bamfield, and Travis Owens. classes. Photos by Deja Lacey.