The Welding Program at San Bernardino Valley College recently won $6,000 worth of equipment and supplies after being chosen as a semi-finalist in the “ESAB WeldItForward” student contest.

A group of welding students, led by instructors Joshua Milligan and Bryce Cacho, entered Phase One of the competition earlier this year with their submission into the competition’s essay contest. Their essay emphasized the department’s goals in giving back to the San Bernardino community and its achievements that have helped to highlight the value of a technical education. The welders discussed their efforts to promote this highly demanded career, and as a result, have seen an increase in female students entering the program.

The essay also paid homage Dan Comisky, an SBVC welding advisor who passed away in earlier in the year.

“Dan was one of the professors that cared about each of us and our success. He was extremely dedicated to welding and teaching,” they wrote in the essay. “The time he invested in us shaped us to become better welders and better people. He showed us that the hard work we put in will pay off.”

The WeldItForward contest, sponsored by ESAB Welding & Cutting Products, concluded its first phase at the FABTECH 2017 Expo in Chicago in November. During the event, San Bernardino Valley College was chosen from hundreds of essays as one of six semi-finalists. The prize for reaching this level was a welding and cutting equipment package valued at more than $6,000.

These new and updated supplies are to be used to build the project they will submit for the final phase of the competition. A team of two to five welding students will create a fabricated metal project to be submitted by March 9, 2018. 

The winning program of Phase Two of the competition will receive $20,000 in equipment and supplies. In addition, every student involved on the winning team will also receive an ESAB Sentinel A50 auto-darkening welding helmet and a $250 cash award.

ESAB plans to post progress pictures and updates on its website of the remaining welding teams, all leading up to their final submissions in spring. The evaluation for the projects will be based on online voting and a judging panel.

We wish our Wolverine welders the best of luck as they embark on this final phase of the competition!