Educators seek out opportunities for leadership to support students empowerment and success and to improve teaching and learning.
In the welding program students learn leadership by being a leader. I run my shop like a job site, on a rotational basis students are assigned to be the shop foreman and the Safety Officer of the Day. As problems arise in the shop, or questions are asked I work with the shop foreman to handle the situation. The shop foreman is trained to ensure the proper work and materials are distributed students working in the shop. The safety officer is responsible for making sure safety check list and hot work permits are filled out daily and work is carried out in a safe manner. Why you ask? As a welder some of these young students, upon graduation will work on a traveling crew, most of the time two men crews, they will need to know how to take charge and make sure work is scheduled and competed in a timely manner, safely, and all proper forms and documents are filled out. Its probably not a good idea to weld in a fireworks warehouse without doing a hot work permit and receiving all the proper signatures. Welders should never assume its okay to start welding, always cross the Ts and dot the Is first.
At Northwest Shoals, for the past 3 years we have hosted the district skills competition for our district in the high school Skills USA competitions. I inform my college students when the competitions are going to be held and I require them to come and mentor the contestants and help with machine set-up and shop orientation. This give the older students an opportunity to display their leadership skills and shop knowledge, not only to the young students they are mentoring, but also the industry professionals there to judge the competition. We always have the training coordinators from the local unions on hand to supervise the competitions. It is an opportunity for all involved to meet and greet the industry professionals. The events, dates, and times are posted on our monthly newsletter as seen below.
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Leader Resources:
- Alabama Skills USA- SkillsUSA is a partnership of students, teachers and industry working together to ensure America has a skilled workforce. SkillsUSA helps each student excel. We provide educational programs, events and competitions that support career and technical education (CTE) in the nation’s classrooms.
- S/P2 Soft Skills Use the course’s in the S/P2 Soft Skills Training package to empower your students with strong soft skills and give them a competitive advantage.
- American Welding Society Foundation-Whether you’re a student, a recent graduate, or an industry professional with several years of experience, the AWS Foundation is here to help you succeed