TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (WCTV) – Students at Chiles High School are now one step closer to starting their careers, as school leaders cut the ribbon on a new welding facility Tuesday.
“Our youngest students, 14 years old, are already working on learning to become welders,” principal Joe Burgess said.
The program is taught by instructors from Lively Technical College, and the goal is for students to be certified when they graduate high school. In previous years, students would have to drive to Lively in order to take this course, but now, Chiles has its own facility on campus.
“I have wanted to weld, pretty much, my whole life,” sophomore Trevor Saalmann said. His grandfather was a welder in the Navy, and Saalmann said he grew up around the trade. “I learned about the basics when I was really young, and this class just helped me elevate my skills to a whole different level.”
Students are getting hands-on experience in the course, led by Eric Iungerich, who spent years working in the welding industry.
“They can get a training and a skill that they can take with them for the rest of their lives,” Iungerich said. “We need engineers that know the basics and fundamentals of welding to be able to build our bridges and skyscrapers and cruise lines.”
Iungerich said by taking this course in high school, students can jumpstart their careers earlier in life.
“So this process can, actually, save them almost two years off of their training by coming and doing it throughout their high school career here,” Iungerich said. “Then, they can go and take our advanced welding or our pipefitting class at Lively Tech if they want to continue on, and, or, they can go on with their certification from here into the job world.”
The facility was made possible by a $631,000 grant from the Florida Department of Education, and school leaders said 51 students are already enrolled in the program.
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