HENRY COUNTY, Va. – Halloween is just under two weeks away, and students at the Career Academy in Henry County are trying their hand at new welding projects.
These students are getting hands-on experience to prepare them for the workforce, and at the same time, they’re creating art.
“These start out as regular tanks,” Andres Akins who is a junior in the Industrial Maintenance Program at the Career Academy in Henry County.
Akins and his classmates get to build their welding skills and create items for Halloween. Some of the pieces they have created so far include pumpkin helium gas tanks, which are a fundraiser for the program. They are also crafting a pumpkin made out of horseshoes.
“You put them together, tack, weld it the best you can, and you just get a pumpkin,” Logan Mason said
While it may seem like fun and games, these students are learning the basics to make sure they’re prepared to enter the workforce.
“Taking this right here it helps me get to know welding better so once I go to get my certification I already know what I’m doing,” Akins said. “A plasma torch is one of the many tools students use here at the career academy to go into the workforce.”
“They may have to free hand with the torch,” Jerry Byrd who is the teacher with the HVAC and industrial maintenance program said.
Byrd teaches students proper techniques like cutting, welding, and sanding so they are prepared if they want to pursue welding professionally.
Staff said 80 percent of students in the program are employed in the field.
“Be able to use the equipment is important and they have to practice, the more time they spend behind the welder, the more time behind the cutting torch the better they are,” Byrd said
You can see one of the pumpkin helium gas tanks sitting with Duke Carter 10 News below.