My last blog post was addressed to Crook County (Oregon) High School officials and others who could help decide the fate of vocational and technical programs in the U.S., which often are the first items on the chopping block when funding for education is tight. It featured an item from News/Talk 1110 KBND, Bend, Ore., about a high school metal and welding class that likely will be cut in next year's budget. The Oregon State champs (pictured) in the Skills USA Competition came from this class.

That post ended with a request to forward it to those who might be able to help preserve voc-tech programs not only in Crook County, but all across the U.S. In one of those coincidences that remind us just how small our world is, one of my colleagues received an e-mail yesterday from the Crook County High School metals/welding instructor quoted in my post. His current students have a more immediate need than preserving the program. Maybe you can help.
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Several years ago Ken Smith took a long, hard look at the country's welder shortage. The manager of training for Lorain County Community College's welding program in Elyria, Ohio, saw a need to tackle the issue at the source: education.

Smith, together with representatives from the American Welding Society and elsewhere, started the National Center for Welding Education and TrainingWeld Ed for shortfunded by the National Science Foundation. The program focuses on educating someone who's not necessarily a hands-on welder, not a welding engineer, but a little of both. It is the hope that graduates of such programs would go on to become weld technicians and eventually land in supervisory roles.

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