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More Feature Articles

January 2010
-Creature-Focused Careers
-Former Members Reflect: Dr. Dwight Armstrong
-Levy Randolph
-Safety on Speed Dial
-Preserving Their Culture
-Off and Away

November 2009
-Former Members Reflect: Emilie Bocker
-Turn That Down!
-Car Smarts
-So Much Cooler Online
-Laila Hajji
-The Water Way
-A Greater Cause

June 2009
-Stretch Your Summer Income
-Riley Branch
-Turn That Down
-Behind-The-Scenes Star

May 2009
-Welcoming Women
-Regina Holliday
-Job Interview Jitters
-So Much Cooler Online
-Questioning Your College Choices?

-A Can-Do Attitude
-Former Members Reflect: Michele Payn-Knoper

April 2009
-Hannah Crossen
-Cowboy Book With a Cause
-From FFA to 33Miles
-There’s Cash in Your Future
-I’m Angry…Now What?
-For the Love of Landscaping
-Perfect Balance
-Gardening For A Cause

February 2009
-Blue-Ribbon Banjo Player
-FFA as an Art Form
-Wild About Animals
-Nessie Early
-Be a PAL
-Full Throttle
-Living to Serve
-Special Invitation

January 2009
-All About National FFA Week
-Paul Moya
-Justin Floyd
-Partners for the Planet
-Finding Balance
-Swimming in Aquaculture
-Breaking Records
-Take It Slow

December 2008
-National FFA convention to rotate homes

November 2008
-Dr. Al Snyder
-Scholarship Secrets
-Gear Up for National FFA Week
-Kari Boettcher
-Resist Peer Pressure
-Good to the Last Crop
-All Creatures, Great and Small
-Sparking Interest

September 2008
-Agriculture Accuracy
-Crissa Fruechte
-Brady Revels
-Get Up!
-Proceed With Caution
-All in Good Taste
-Clutch Performance
-Step Right Up

July 2008
-Take It to a New Level
-Deep-Rooted Interest
-Take a Deep Breath
-Tyler Tenbarge
-Inspired by FFA
-On the Right Track

May 2008
-In the Vault
-Your Money: Keeping Records
-National Officer Q&A
-We’re All Unique
-Best in Show
-Grab Life by the Reins

March 2008
-Call to Order!
-Reality Check
-Turtle Power
-By the Numbers
-Dale Darling
-A Token of Appreciation
-National Officer Q&A

January 2008
-National Officer Q&A
-Back Talk: Paul McCutchan
-Building Bright Futures

November 2007
-National Officer Q&A
-Back Talk: Corey Flournoy
-Biofuels Mean Business
-Go, Team, Go
-A Tractor Tradition

October 2007
-National Officer Q&A
-Back Talk: Kristie VerMulm
-Give them an A+
-Cranberry Crazy
-Racing to Indy

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FFA Feature

Sparking Interest

Welding in agriculture is becoming a hot career.

November 2008

Like working with your hands? Don’t mind a little heat? Then listen up, because Wesley Viriamontes has just the job for you.

“Welding is a lot of fun,” says Wesley, a recent graduate of Gadsden High School in Anthony, N.M. “I liked it the first time I tried it, and I like it just as much now. It takes a lot of patience and concentration, and it can be challenging. But if you like putting things together – building things and fixing things – it’s great.”

When it comes to hot careers, welding is right up there with the best of them. According to industry insiders, the United States is facing a serious welder shortage. While more than 500,000
welders are currently employed in this country, their average age is in the mid-50s, and many are planning for retirement. Meanwhile, as the country’s infrastructure continues to grow, as bridges and skyscrapers and factories inevitably age and require repair, demand for new welders is growing faster than ever.

“The bottom line is, we’ll be short about 200,000 welders in the next 10 years,” says Jamie Pearson, vice president of training at Tulsa Welding School (TWS) in Tulsa, Okla.

“It’s bad now,” he says, “but it’s only getting worse.”

Wesley is clearly onto something. The first time he tried welding, he says, was through his agricultural education course and FFA membership. It was sophomore year, and he was taking agricultural mechanics.

“We started with stick welding,” says Wesley, using the informal term for what professional welders know as “shielded metal arc welding,” or SMAW.

Basic SMAW is the craft at its simplest. Imagine a burly guy in heavy leather coveralls wearing a scary metal mask behind a brilliant cascade of leaping sparks, and you’ve got the picture.

“We made lots of things. I think our first big project was to build a bumper-pulled trailer for car hauling,” Wesley says.

Once he gained a few skills, he recalls, Wesley entered the FFA agricultural mechanics career development event, a competition that also tests students’ proficiency in hands-on techniques like electrical wiring and carpentry.

“I had a good time learning everything,” he says. “I thought it was all really interesting. I guess I just liked working with metal the most.”

When high school graduation came around, Wesley had a decision to make. He’d considered entering the military, but he’d done so much welding, and had such a good time doing it (by the time he was a senior, the trailers he was building were 20-foot goosenecks), he eventually changed his mind. Also, he says, there was that issue about employment.

“I knew if I went out and learned to be a welder, I could come home to New Mexico and find work at an oil refinery or on a pipeline,” he explains. “There are a lot of jobs out there
for welders.”

There’s also plenty of money.

According to Jamie Pearson at TWS, where Wesley eventually enrolled, the average starting pay for last year’s graduates of its Master Welder program was more than $56,000.

“For a seasoned welder willing to travel and work long hours,” Pearson says, “it’s not unusual to make over $100,000 a year.”

When Wesley talks about welding, the technical terms of the trade roll from his tongue like beads of molten metal. There are “T plates” and “bevel plates,” “butt welds” and “lap welds.” There’s “tungsten arc” welding, “gas metal arc” welding, and “flux-cored” welding. It sounds complicated, and it is.

But the way Wesley sees it, he’s just getting started. He’s learning as he goes, honing the skills – the physical endurance, the manual dexterity and the technical know-how – that will make him a great employee wherever he decides to work.

The Tulsa program includes 10 intensive training phases and takes seven months to complete. When he’s finished, he says, he’ll not only have his diploma; he’ll also have what he needs to start his career.

“I’ll start from the bottom, as a welder’s helper, so I can learn more about working in the field,” Wesley says. “From there I’ll just work my way up.”

Story by Chris Hayhurst
Photography by Ian Curcio

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