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High school welding competition offers students opportunity to earn money while learning a trade
As employers try to fill millions of job openings across the country, a critical need for skilled workers continues, because there aren't enough people who have the expertise. FOX 26 Business Reporter Tom Zizka shows us a unique high-school competition designed to help fill that gap.
HOUSTON - As employers try to fill millions of job openings across the country, a critical need for skilled workers continues, because there aren't enough people who have the expertise.
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A unique competition among high school welding students may help change some of that. By some estimates, there's a need for nearly 50,000 new welders, every year, for the next decade.
It is hard, exacting work, and the Texas High School Welding Series allows students to show what they've learned.
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11 Houston-area teams compete as part of Texas High School Welding Series
Eleven local teams faced off today as part of the Texas High School Welding Series. It's the third year that the event has been hosted by Northern Tool and Equipment and it serves as a showcase for these young men and women who will soon be entering the workforce. The teams have four hours to follow directions and fabricate a specific object. A team of judges monitors the work and selects a winner when time is up.
Set up in a parking lot along the Eastex Freeway, the teens have got four hours to build a table, welded from pieces of steel guided by a strict set of plans that calls for specific welds that must appear in specific places.
This competition, sponsored by Northern Tool, has attracted 11 teams who only learned the details of their task, when they arrived.
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The stress is designed to test their expertise and teamwork.
"Life is competitive, and industry is competitive," says Texas High School Welding Series director Eric Pasek. "Why wouldn't we want to show those kids this little bit of, 'you're gonna' fight your entire life, so why not learn that you're gonna be rewarded for that, in high school?'"
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While unemployment remains at a 50-year low, more than half of employers who need skilled workers can't find enough. They can cross their fingers and hope it gets better, or help train the people they need.
As the sparks fly, and the creations take shape, that reward could go well beyond a trophy or diploma.
For some, this is the start of finding a future. 17-year-old Ashlen Vines started welding two years ago, and she loves it!
"This, for me, is easy; I understand it; It's fun to do," she said. "It's not a job; It's not a chore. I can actually do it, and do it well."
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For those who do it well, there is an opportunity waiting. With a current shortage of more than 500,000 skilled trade workers only expected to grow in the coming years, this kind of instruction and competition is designed to nurture the passion of a new generation.
"We need to show people that there are options," says Northern Tool's Myra Galland. "Certainly, college is one of them. It's a fantastic option, but it's not 'for' everybody and that doesn't mean that you don't have opportunities in your life."
This browser does not support the Video element.
Corporate scholarship aims to train next generation of skilled trades workers at Lone Star College
While unemployment remains at a 50-year low, more than half of employers who need skilled workers can't find enough. They can cross their fingers and hope it gets better, or help train the people they need.
"It doesn't matter what route you go," adds Pasek "As long as you're continuing to learn, educate, and build your skills, that's the key."
At the end of this competition, the winners will get some prizes that will help further their expertise. All of them will win some valuable experience that, for some, could show a path toward a lucrative and secure future.