Mid has welding space for GI-TEC students
Two-year program helps high school juniors, seniors find industry jobs
Students of the Gratiot-isabella Technical Education Center (GITEC) utilize Mid Michigan College’s welding space as a part of their course.
The state approved welding course is a two-year program with 12 segments that is meant to prepare high school juniors and seniors for jobs in the metal fabrication industry.
“The program provides students with practical experience and instruction in the setup and use of equipment common to the trade,” CTE Director Mary Kay Voeks said. “Emphasis is placed on safety procedures as students learn welding and cutting processes and the use of industrial equipment. Student welds are critiqued according to the American Welding Society standards and students may earn certification through the AWS.”
Due to high student enrollment requests over the past few years, resulting in a waiting list at GITEC’S Alma location, the school has looked for ways to offer an additional welding class in Mt. Pleasant.
“We contacted Mid Michigan College knowing they had a state of the art welding lab to see if they would be interested in a partner
ship for our students to utilize their lab space during the day,” Voeks said. “After reviewing all the details, MMC and GI-TEC came to an agreement and we are excited to offer our first welding section of 20 students for the 2021-2022 school year.”
Currently, students from Isabella County will attend class in the Mt. Pleasant location while the Gratiot County students attend class in Alma. Tyler Merrihew was brought on as a new instructor for the course. Merrihew is a Mt. Pleasant High School graduate who previously completed the welding program in Alma.
He got interested in welding through his family and has over a decade of industry experience in the field. Merrihew has worked on different welding jobs throughout the nation.
The course will generally have students learning the basics of welding.
“The students will work on skill until they are able to do it to a satisfactory level then move on to the next skill,” Merrihew said.
Many of the students are interested in a career in welding while others generally wish to learn the skills and use what they’ve learned in other field.
“We have students that want to go into the trade right away after graduation, we have some that plan to go on to a technical school to further their studies in this field and we have some that are gaining this experience to be used on the family farm,” Voeks said.
As interest in the program grows, it is expected that they will soon be able to offer two 2-hr blocks for the next school year.
“Every student that requested this class wants to be there so it brings a whole different sense of ownership to the class dynamics,” Voeks said.
For more information, visit gi-tec.com