High school students perform a weld in February as part of Moraine Valley Community College’s 2024 high school welding competition. The contest offers a way “to get teachers, parents and students to believe there’s more out there than the traditional college education,” said MVCC welding instructor Dave Viar.
“We’ve had five winners in the last seven years,” said John O’Connor, an Evergreen Park shop teacher who earned an education degree from Trinity Christian College after working 20 years as a sheet metal worker and Local 73 member. It’s a profession that will require some 360,000 welding professionals by 2027, according to the American Welding Society, which has designated April National Welding Month since 1996.
For the second year in a row, Zack Gumban, an Evergreen Park senior, took first place in the welding competition overall, winning a $1,000 scholarship to MVCC. He became enamored with the high school’s metal-working lab while shadowing as an eighth grader. “I like this much better than sitting in class reading,” Abonce said. “I’d much rather be in the lab building something.”
Lucio plans to study at Moraine Valley to become a first responder, possibly a firefighter. He said his knowledge of welding will help him better understand structural issues related to building emergencies.
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