How SISD Welding Classes Forge a Passport To The World and Beyond

[soliloquy id=”1716″]Story by Charlie Dylla – SHS Welding Instructor     Ten students got eight hours of college credit with St. Philips College in San Antonio last year, which translates into hundreds of dollars in college savings. Our welding superstars were able to participate in two classes.      Today we have 25 students enrolled in Advanced Welding who will be able to participate in four classes which could earn them 16 hours of college credit by the end of the Spring 2016 school year.  We also had 23 students earn an industry credential in a ten hour general construction class or a ten hour industrial certification through  OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration).  Nearly eighty students received all or part of a construction safety and Welding level one through the NCCER (National Center for Construction and Educational Research Certification.  The NCCER is a nationally recognized certification that generates a transcript for craft workers. Go to www.NCCER.org for more information or to see videos.   We also had students participate and 20 students pass an A.W.S. (American Welding Society) certification welding test according to AWS D1.1 Structural Steel Welding Code destructive welding certification examination administered here at Southside High School Welding Shop.  This year, students at Southside High School may have the chance to participate in non-ferrous welding credentials through the AWS as well as a new credential through the C.W.B. (Canadian Welding Bureau) which could allow students to broaden their horizons to foreign countries to become welders as well as work in specialty shops throughout North America who contract government work or partake in foreign/domestic contracts adhering to CWB standards.