Welding Courses Meet Interest, Need

Above, Welding I students with a new industrial mig welder with a spool gun. The welder was recently provided by Airgas in Bangor, along with two more stick/tig welders. The combined value of the new equipment is $8,300. We are grateful to Airgas and account manager Ted Harris for their generous support of GSA’s welding program.

When Corey Esposito ’87 was a GSA student, metals class teacher Scott Shepard taught him to stick weld. After Corey finished making an anchor, his teacher thought it looked good.

“At that point, I thought ‘Wow,’ “ Corey said, “welding may be something I’d like to do.” So Corey pursued his interest in Independent Study his junior and senior years, and he eventually began welding professionally at L.S. Thorsen in Ellsworth. In 2001, Corey opened Esposito’s Welding and Fabrication in Surry, a business he still runs today.

Though Corey’s love of welding began early, “I fell in love with teaching,” he said, as a long-term substitute at the Hancock County Technical Center in 2015. When GSA needed a new Industrial Tech teacher, Corey was quick to apply. “Teaching at GSA is a dream come true. Not only am I getting to teach, but I’m doing it where I discovered my passion.”

And that passion, it seems, is catching. “Last year, almost every kid that came in [the shop] asked ‘Can we try welding?’,” he said.

Corey already had the equipment needed thanks to prior gifts from Airgas and Hypertherm, so the teacher made his students an offer. “If we accomplish what we need to, and there’s time at the end of the course, you can have a few days to try welding.”

Interest in welding continued to grow, so Corey proposed a sequence of welding courses to the Curriculum Committee. The sequence began this fall with full enrollments. With these new courses, Corey said, “every GSA student has the opportunity to try welding, and they only have to commit to half a year. A lot of kids just want to learn how to weld to fix their own stuff, and a lot of students just think it’s neat.” Corey expects others will embrace welding as an artistic medium.

Students who’d like to help meet the growing demand for professional welders can take all four classes and earn certificates. Corey has already heard from area businesses that would like to host GSA students for their Independent Study and Internship Program projects.

Regardless of why they choose to take the new courses, Corey is excited to have more students interested in welding. “It’s so fulfilling when you’re in the welding booth with a student and they run their first really pretty bead, just to see the excitement and enthusiasm.”