WILLMAR — For the second year, regional high schools tested their technical skills during a distant version of the annual Ridgewater College SkillsFest, a competition for students to test their technical skills in everything from welding to photography.
The event is usually hosted in February and attracts around 300 students, but the pandemic halted large group events for the second consecutive year.
In 2021, Ridgewater welding instructors took their technical challenges on the road to seven interested high schools. It was such a success, they repeated it in 2022.
The instructors visited area schools to give demonstrations and instructions, and also to distribute tacked together weldments for the competition. They also shared details about a new category involving building metal spears.
Each school selected up to three competitors in each category. The students had two weeks to perform a print reading test and complete the designated weldment.
Ridgewater faculty then collected the projects for judging by Ridgewater welding students.
More than 60 students participated this year, twice as many as 2021, from Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City, Belgrade-Brooten-Elrosa, Eden Valley-Watkins, Kerkhoven-Murdock-Sunburg, New London-Spicer, Sauk Centre and Willmar.
The first-place winners received a $1,000 Ridgewater College Foundation scholarship.
Following are the top three in each type of welding:
Gas Metal Arc Welding (GMAW, mig/wire): (1) David Thaden, Willmar (2) Brady Schwinghammer, BBE (3) Hayden Larson, NLS.
Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (GTAW, Tig): (1) Hunter Melby, NLS (2) Sam Gabrielson, NLS (3) Ryan Kulman, Willmar.
Stick Metal Arc Welding (SMAW): (1) Aiden Peterson, Willmar (2) Tyler Olsen, NLS (3) Alec Larson, NLS.
Spear Building: (1) Myles Macik, NLS (2) Connor Danielson, ACGC (3) Colby Renne, ACGC.
The West Central Chapter of the Minnesota Darkhouse and Angling Association sponsored the new spear-building competition. President Loren Hjelle, a retired Ridgewater welding instructor of 31 years, said it was great to pilot this new spear activity.
“If a kid makes a spear, maybe he’ll want to use it. ... We’ll definitely offer this category again.”