The following article is courtesy of Scott County School District 2. The article offers an excellent overview of how high school students can now train and earn certifications in welding and advanced manufacturing at the Mid-America Science Park in Scottsburg.
Students at Scottsburg High School are able to save hundreds of dollars while earning professional certifications in welding and advanced manufacturing that will give them an advantage when preparing to enter today’s workforce after graduation.
“Our Career and Technical Education opportunities offered to Scottsburg High School students at Mid-America Science Park in welding and advanced manufacturing are cutting-edge and allow students an innovative opportunity to compete for jobs in the 21st century,” said Kyle Mullins, advanced manufacturing, welding and engineering teacher at SHS. “Upon graduation from our programs, students will be prepared to have a huge impact on today’s high-performance manufacturing industry.”
At the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year, Mullins and his students met at Mid-America Science Park as part of a partnership between Scott County School District 2, Ivy Tech Community College, and MASPark. The partnership was created in effort to “develop a pipeline of highly-skilled, technologically-sound workers to help Scottsburg compete locally, nationally, and globally in attracting manufacturing companies to our community,” Mullins said.
“Welding has become a high-demand job, and there are fewer and fewer students becoming welders,” said Isaiah Bromm, SHS junior and was recently certified in American Welding Society Shielded Metal Arc Welding 1G.
“Welding has become a high-demand job, and there are fewer and fewer students becoming welders,” said Isaiah Bromm, SHS junior and was recently certified in American Welding Society Shielded Metal Arc Welding 1G.
Through the advanced manufacturing course, Mullins said he teaches the students using a blended approach of “e-learning, practical industrial maintenance and production experience, and collaboration with industry members in real world manufacturing scenarios.” By successfully completing the course, SHS students can earn six college credits through Ivy Tech and can become a Certified Production Technician through the Manufacturing Skills Standards Council accreditation process. The MSC CPT accreditation process has four certificates, which the students can earn in the two-year program. The certificates are in safety, quality practices and measurement, manufacturing processes and production, and maintenance awareness.
“The main objective students learn in advanced manufacturing is how to utilize technology and advanced manufacturing processes to most efficiently produce products that will satisfy or exceed consumer expectations,” Mullins said “During our two-year program students learn a multitude of concepts relating to manufacturing from working with precision measurement equipment to performing maintenance on a variety of different types of equipment to programming robots and CNC machines.”
In the welding course, Mullins said the students will learn about safety and the theory behind the SMAW process. The welding students spend about 180 hours practicing SMAW welding before taking the AWS SMAW 1G certification assessment. The students also can earn six credit hours from Ivy Tech.
“I know all my hard work paid off,” Bromm said about passing his assessment and becoming certified. “I know that I can do the same as college kids. It’s always going to be good to have a certificate.”
During the welding course, Mullins teams up with Ivy Tech welding instructor, Kris Brown, who is an accomplished welder and former employee of Keith Kunz Motorsports in Columbus. Mullins said Brown helped fabricate race cars for many well-known stock car drivers, and Brown has welded for Toyota Motor Corp.
“[Brown] is one of the highest-quality welding instructors in the state,” Mullins said.
In the 2014-2015 school year, several students in the advanced manufacturing and welding classes earned individual certificates, MSSC CPT accreditation, and certification in AWS SMAW 1G.
“Certifications will help a job applicant in a technical field move his/her resume closer ‘to the top of the stack,’” Mullins said. “Certifications separate candidates with equivalent education and work experience. The certifications earned in our advanced manufacturing and welding programs will allow a high school graduate to land a middle-skilled, high-wage job at local manufacturing companies.”
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