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A mainly sunny sky. High 66F. Winds light and variable..
A mostly clear sky. Low 36F. Winds light and variable.
Area technical centers across the region provide high school students with several potential career training services, from electricity to carpentry, from automotive technology to plumbing and much more.
Fulton County High School senior Ian Goodman chose to study welding at the Four Rivers Career Academy and found that it fit him perfectly.
Goodman is this week’s Associated General Contractors of Western Kentucky Technical Center Student of the Week.
He is in his third year in the welding program and said his quick adaptation into the program was one factor in making welding a career.
“There’s a lot of money into it if you take it seriously,” he said. “It’s something really cool to learn and know how to do.
“I’m really comfortable welding. Once you learn it, it’s just really, really fun.”
Goodman has been working on welding certifications in class and said he enjoys stick welding over other means of welding like metal inert gas (MIG) welding and tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding.
Stick welding is the most commonly used welding process, using an electric current and an anode, a metal stick covered by metal powders and composites.
“Once I start welding, it just calms my body down,” Goodman said. “It’s like a comfort zone.”
Goodman said he hopes to go to a trade school to study welding with an eye toward making it a career.
Will Greer is Goodman’s welding instructor at Four Rivers Career Academy, and he said that Goodman has been a good student.
“He’s always busy; he’s always working really hard,” he said. “He’s one of those kids that you never have to tell him to get on the task and always strives to get better.”
Greer said that Goodman picked up welding quickly when he started the program as a sophomore. He confirmed what Goodman said about the good pay that welders get.
“There are jobs all over willing to pay $30-plus an hour, especially on the road, plus per-diem — that’s travel pay,” Greer said. “And that’s tax-free money, which is where it’s at.
“If he’s willing to weld pipe and travel, he could make upward of over $30 an hour. There’s a lot of plant shutdowns — they shut down for two or three weeks and repair everything. If you’re willing to do that kind of work, you could make $50-plus an hour plus per-diem.”
Goodman is the son of Austin and Jessica Goodman of Hickman. He is involved with the SkillsUSA program and is on the FCHS football team.
A story featuring the AGC of Western Kentucky Technical Center Student of the Week will run in The Paducah Sun each Friday through March 31 with recipients chosen by instructors and administrators at the seven area technical centers that serve students in the state’s 13 westernmost counties.
In addition to the Four Rivers Career Academy in Fulton County, the 29 AGC of Western Kentucky Technical Center Students of the Week are chosen from the Ballard County Career and Technical Center, Caldwell Regional Career Center, Marshall County Technical Center, Mayfield-Graves County Area Technology Center, Murray-Calloway County Area Technology Center and Paducah Area Technical Center.
The Four Rivers Career Academy serves students from Fulton High School, Fulton County High School and Hickman County High School and is located at Fulton County High School.
Along with welding, the area technology center offers courses in automotive machine and repairs, business management, entrepreneurship, graphics media, health science and information technology.
AGC of Western Kentucky will host a banquet in April for this year’s 29 Technical Center Students of the Week. Students will receive prizes, and Technical Center Students of the Year and an overall Regional Technical Center Student of the Year will be announced.
At the area technical centers, students are learning skills in many career areas that will help them join the workforce upon graduation and help fill the need for skilled workers in western Kentucky.
Follow David B. Snow on Twitter, @SunWithSnow, or on Facebook at facebook.com/sunwithsnow.
Follow David B. Snow on Twitter, @SunWithSnow, or on Facebook at facebook.com/sunwithsnow.
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