Firing up the future: NIC hosts high school welding competition

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Lakeland High School junior Bailey Kennedy works on her oxy-acetylene cutting entry in NIC’s annual welding skills competition on Friday, Feb. 10 at the Parker Technical Education Center in Rathdrum.

Students from Kootenai Technical Education Campus, Sandpoint High School and Lakeland High School competed in North Idaho College’s annual welding skills competition on Friday, Feb. 10 at the Parker Technical Education Center in Rathdrum.

The event acts as an unofficial regional qualifier for the Skills USA state competition where students have 30 minutes in each competition to showcase their skills in shielded metal arc welding, oxy-acetylene cutting and flux-cored arc welding.

Some students said that competing outside of their school’s regular shop proved to be challenging.

“There’s a lot more stress and a lot more nerves,” Lakeland High School junior Bailey Kennedy said. “Some of the machines are a lot more different than what we run so it was a little hard adjusting.”

Sandpoint High School welding instructor Jake Stark said that the pressure of the competition is a great tool to help replicate what a welding test in a job interview looks like.

“It’s big because for a lot of them because I don’t think they would venture out and do this on their own,” Stark said. “Getting out of their comfort zone is going to make them well-rounded so that when they go out there and try out for a job, they have this experience. They’ve been there now and it’s going to make it easier for them down the road.”

NIC Welding and Industrial Mechanics Lab Technician Chris Gordon served as one of the judges for the event and said that the competition also serves as a stepping stone to see if a student wants to pursue welding at NIC. He also said he was impressed with the number of girls he saw come through the event.

“The world is running out of welders, but we are starting to see more female welders get into the industry,” Gordon said. “Anybody can pick up and learn these skills so it’s really nice to see more women. When I was in high school, if there was a girl in welding the attitude was ‘Oh you’re in welding? That’s weird.’ But as time goes on it’s becoming more normal.”

Kennedy said that the influx of women in the industry has been something she’s noticed and has helped her in her pursuit of a career in welding.

“As long as you work hard, people don’t treat you any different,” Kennedy said. “We’re slowly getting more women in welding, which is really cool.”

Students at the event won prizes for placing in the top three of each event, as well as in raffles at the end of the morning competition. Prizes were sponsored by Cd’A Metals, Lincoln Electric, Miller Electric and ESAB. All material for the competition was donated by Pacific Steel.

KTEC’s Trevor Haney took first place in oxy-acetylene cutting, while Lakeland’s Mike Laird took second and KTEC’s Chace Gimlin took third.

KTEC’s Seth Dansereau, Ty Gilbert and Jackson Lucas took first, second and third in shielded metal arc welding.

In flux-cored arc welding, Lucas, Raphael Eloe and Gilbert, all of KTEC, took first, second and third.

For more information, contact NIC Welding Professor Tim Straw at (208) 665-5057 or tim.straw@nic.edu.

Welding Technology Associate Professor Earl Dreisbach, right, hands a student a prize in NIC’s annual welding skills competition on Friday, Feb. 10 at the Parker Technical Education Center in Rathdrum.