February is Career and Technical Education month

MOSES LAKE - Some Moses Lake High School students learn by sitting at a desk. Others learn by melting metal.

The welding program at the high school is just one of several hands-on, vocational/technical education programs offered to students.

February is Career and Technical Education Month.

"This lab is used every period," said Career and Technical Education Director Christine Armstrong. "It never sits empty."

Welding instructor Chad Utter estimated at least 130 students take welding classes at the high school each year.

"There's a lot of jobs out there, if they're mature enough to do it," Utter said.

Welding instructor Rick Rosenow said there is a need nationwide for welders.

"Welding jobs are big right now," Rosenow said.

Moses Lake High School senior David Guerrero, 17, said he started taking welding classes his freshman year of high school.

"It looked fun and I liked it, so I kept doing it," Guerrero said.

Guerrero and senior Anthony Palmen, 17, both take welding classes in the evening at Big Bend Community College.

Palmen said the lack of skilled welders influenced his interest in the field.

"Nobody knows how to do it anymore," Palmen said.

Senior Nick Kimmel, 18, was accepted into Arizona State University's mechanical engineering program, no easy feat according to Rosenow.

Rosenow named several graduates of the program who have gone on to build successful careers.

Moses Lake resident Ryan Hall, who graduated in 2007, first took welding as a high school freshman and stuck with the program through his senior year.

"At first it was just an easy 'A,' but as it progressed I started liking it," said Hall, 18.

Hall now works for Pacific Northwest Mechanical, at a welding shop based in Moses Lake.

If it had not been for his experience taking welding in high school, he does not believe he would be a welder today.

"That was my last job option I thought I'd ever be in," he said.

Hall said he enjoys his chosen career and plans to stay in the field.

"I'm going to try and get as far as I can in this career because it can take you a lot of places, so I've heard," Hall said.