PANDEMIC PLAYS Fall theatre production on campus Regan LaRue

Matthew Folkerts, Reporter & Designer

Welding A Future

When taking the next step in education, every student wants to know there is a future that awaits them out in industry. Hutchinson Community College leads to a variety of career opportunities and the welding tation industries.” Instructors play an important role in students’ education and career paths. Welding instructors and advisors motivate and encourage students to do their best in classes and in life skills. “Greg is very positive and outgoing. He is always supporting, encouraging, and motivating,” said Mikayla Mallett, Valley Center. Having encouragement and positive instructors like Siepert can be a defining moment, especially when a student encounters an obstacle. “Greg is a very motivating person. He inspired me to go out there and be the best I can be,” said Mason Groves, a graduate of the program from Haven. The coronavirus affected many classes in the spring semester forcing many classes to suspend face-to-face classes. “ We started classes the Monday after spring break and at that time every stuHutchCC offers a bright future for welding students program is no exception. dent was assigned their own booth. The “Students can go into production biggest adaptation is that we are starting environment, which has to do with the to turn written homework online. The manufacture of all kinds of products,” biggest struggle is that I can’t work said Greg Siepert, Welding Technology with a student one-on-one from six

Professor/Coordinator. “Locally, they feet away.” said Siepert. The program have Kuhn Krause, Superior Boiler, posi- itself has evolved to cater to students’ tions with maintenance, pipeline, piping abilities and their futures. manufacturers, aerospace, and transpor- “We’ve become a very comprehensive program. We really try to give them an exposure to as much of the welding industry as we can,” Siepert said. “Instead of pigeonholing them into one thing, we try to show them various things and prep them in various types of welds.”

Since the welding program has become such a comprehensive and hands-on program, there are many different welds that students will master. As a first year student, students will practice laying beds with electrodes, learning the correct way to strike those electrodes, and how to hold them in correct angles. Safety is also extremely important and therefore taught and enforced. There will be hardships and challenges in the program.

“Most students will have specific areas where they excel in and some areas where they might have problems with. As far as the most difficult welds, welds that are based around pipes,” said Siepert.

Students face challenges in any chosen career path. One of the obstacles for this program is the image that surrounds the career field.

“There is a certain stigma that surrounds welding. I feel like that is one of the biggest challenges that a welder might face,” Siepert said. “Those who support us, support us a hundredfold. There is a lot of pride when it comes to welding.”

With encouraging professors, the opportunities that present welding graduates are worth the challenges.

Photos by Matthew Folkerts LEFT: Mikayla Mallett, Valley Center, plasma cuts for her final. Mikayla is a first year student and throroughly enjoys the welding program

ABOVE: Lazarus Garcia, Hutchinson, welds for a project. Lazarus is a second year student and enjoys the welding program.

BELOW : Mallett cuts for her final with a regular gas torch. There is also carbon and plasma cuts.