Lincoln High welding program prepares students for industry careers

A 15-minute drive from Lincoln High School, down a gravel road surrounded by rural homes and farmland, students are receiving a kind of education most wouldn't associate with a high school classroom. Lincoln High School's 405-acre farm off William Lane cradles the recently-opened Patrick McCartney Welding Building, where students can learn the skill and craft of fusing metal with metal. "I think it's cool they give the kids an opportunity to use this equipment, which could be dangerous but they teach us how to use it," said senior and welding student Jordan Dattilio. He is one of dozens of welding students at the high school, ranging from those looking for a fun class to those such as Jordan who want to turn their welding skills into a career. "After this, I'm looking at doing some welding at college and maybe go into the union. So this has encouraged me a lot to go that route," Jordan said. The program is part of the school's FFA program, or Future Farmers of America, a nonprofit youth organization that partners with schools to provide education and understanding of agriculture and other technical skills. Lincoln High School's FFA was chartered in 1955. Over the years, as the city and the high school grew, so too has the welding program. Construction on the new McCartney facility began in 2014, named after the former long-time welding instructor Patrick McCartney. Welding instructor and FFA advisor Barret Hess said they were given the keys to their new building January 2018. The new $3 million grant-funded facility allows Hess' students to spend more time with machines in a way that wasn't possible before. "Basically, every student can put a machine in their hand at the same time now and weld all period," Hess said. In addition to the new materials and upgraded space, the welding program offers multiple resources for students who want to take what they learn in the classroom and make it a career. Hess said they hold "professional Mondays," in which professional partners and post-secondary partners meet the students at the classroom and let them know what opportunities exist for them after high school. Hess also organizes industry tours and connects interested students to local businesses. One such introduction led junior Andrew Alves to a rewarding internship with Lincoln business Rattlestick Concrete, giving him real-world experience in the industry. "It is only one tool in the book but it's a big one," Andrew said "I'm able to have a job welding because of this program." Along with the multiple pathways and opportunities provided to welding students interested in entering a technical career, Hess said the program allows them to excel academically as well. Many classes and pathways offered at the farm and alongside the FFA program provide both technical skills and satisfy college-level entry requirements. "There's this prevailing conception that if you're going to be in career technical education or be a welding student, you won't go on to a university," Hess said. "That is untrue. One doesn't stop the other." For students Andrew and Jordan, regardless of their plans post-high school, they both said the program teaches them subjects a typical classroom environment doesn't. The welding classes are part of the school's 4-year Agriculture Plan, which offers agricultural and technical class options for numerous high school and college-entry requirements. The students said the welding classes, along with the other agriculture classes, offer a hands-on learning environment that suits them best. Hess said that ability to see progress and skill in a tangible product is a powerful way for students to learn. "You get to look back and see that you changed a skyline or fixed a bridge or put somebody's truck back together and got them back to work," Hess said. "All of those things are amazing because they're tangibly rewarding."