Author: Michelle Rush Two years ago Mr. Adam Carr, Vocational Welding Instructor at Lakeshore High asked the five students on his leadership team what they wanted to learn. The unanimous response from the students? We want to do underwater welding! Mr. Carr’s first response was a bit hesitant, only because this would be a challenging task. He thought, what a wonderful goal, but how can we attain that? Mr. Carr knew that several different things such as water, sponsors, knowledge, money, and time play a major role in getting these types of events organized, and ready to go.
Underwater welding is just as it sounds. Welding is done underwater with a special electrode applied directly to the area that needs welding. Underwater welding requires around nine months of training. According to the American Welding Society, the demand for underwater welding technologies is increasing all over the world. Job security involves factors such as supply and demand, whether or not someone is willing to move, and what other skills they may have to contribute to the job. Underwater welders can also make some big bucks! Underwater welders can expect to make anywhere between 100,000 to 200,000 per year! How much a person makes really just depends how many jobs they take per year, and their qualifications (www.aws.org). Students at Lakeshore are getting some great skills to help them become employable in the future. To become an underwater welder, you must be certified in welding, and become certified to dive. There is no age limit but the American Welding Society does recommend that people do get a physical before participating, to make sure that they are healthy (www.aws.org). Students would need to get certified in dive training to start, and of course money could be an obstacle. Mr. Carr would need to line up sponsor, and really get dedicated students to follow through. While Mr. Carr was still pondering the idea, the next year, students still responded that underwater welding is really what they wanted to do. Mr. Carr set out to find sponsors, as well as wrote a grant to support 24 students, each year, over the course of three years, to get certified in diving. The Lakeshore Excellence Foundation gave the program around ten thousand dollars in grants. Mr. Carr enlisted Wolf’s Marine in Benton Harbor as a sponsor as well as Sebrecht’s in Stevensville. Wolf’s Marine will be helping to get all twenty-four of Mr. Carr’s students certified in diving. Once the students get their certification, it will be valid for their lifetime. Sebrecht’s is an underwater welding corporation, and has been a generous donor in the past to Lakeshore Public Schools. Students will be preparing for their adventure by first doing a week of videos and two weeks of lecture in the classroom. To get dive certified students must do two dives in a pool, and two dives in Lake Cora, located in Paw Paw Michigan. Students will then get to go into Sebrecht’s tank, and participate in some underwater welding. Mr. Carr and his students are very excited about the opportunity. Though the kids will only get a small taste of what underwater welding is like, it will let them explore the field that they all showed an interest in. Mr. Carr is dedicated to helping his students find their passion in life at an early age, and get to explore what path they want to take. Students will begin their underwater dive training beginning on April 11, 2011. Once the students are certified they can then explore the field more if they choose and Mr. Carr will help them discover what path or step they will need to take next to explore more of their dream. Monday, August 8, 2011 Underwater Welding at Lakeshore HS
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