MOSES LAKE - Almost two years after Gary Blazek was featured in the Columbia Basin Herald for creating a metal version of Big Bend Community College's Viking mascot, Blazek continues to learn more about welding.

Today Blazek is enrolled in column and gas metal arc welding courses.

In the past two years, he hasn't had enough time to tackle another statue project like Thor. He wanted to make a metal lion with a full mane.

Instead Blazek is engrossed in learning and has taken a Washington Association of Building Officials test at the college, which offers testing for students who have taken a tungsten inert gas welding course.

He is not seeking a degree, just the experience.

He struggles with dyslexia. Hands-on work like welding is "no problem," Blazek explained.

"I'm good with my hands," he commented.

Blazek knows he'll have to return to work at some point because of the gas prices, he said. 

At 55, Blazek was laid off from Genie Industries in February 2009, where he worked welding swing units and on a production line.

He came to Big Bend to improve his pipe welding skills and to make himself more marketable to potential employers, according to a Dec. 7, 2009 Columbia Basin Herald article. 

He recently attended a job fair at Big Bend Community College and gave a resume to a company he's interested in working for. He also learned he is eligible for rehire at Genie Industries.

He also attended a job fair in Spokane, where he talked to potential employers.

"I've updated my skills in certain areas and made improvements," he said. 

If there are other layoffs, he has more skills to work elsewhere.

"I'm going to miss it," Blazek commented about school.

Although he is not a teacher's aide or a college employee, he has helped students overcome their fears and was able to give them pointers, he said.

"There's sort of a spirit of camaraderie here," said his welding instructor, Shawn McDaniel. "I try to encourage the little darlings to help each other out."

Blazek does just that.

"I just help out some of the students, occasionally, on my own," Blazek said. "If they're not sure about something and Shawn's not here, I'll share what I do know."

For fun, Blazek enjoys custom work and doing trailer modifications for his personal use and sometimes for friends.

One personal project of Blazek's involved crafting a cattle framework so his friend could load a horse into the back of his truck.

"He needed a corral to hold his horse in there," Blazek recalled. "I did that job for him and he was tickled pink about it."

Blazek cross-trained at Genie and was asked to go to assembly and made that transition until he was laid off. 

"I'm pretty open to all kinds of things," he said. "From carpentry, painting, mechanical, you name it. I consider myself an overall handyman,"

He also enjoys snowmobiling and was planning a special trip with friends to Mount St. Helens. 

"There's at least five of us getting together," he commented. 

Blazek isn't the only one taking advantage of the educational opportunities at Big Bend.

The number of students at Big Bend increased by 17 percent since 2007, according to Autumn Dietrich, the college's public information director.

Enrollment in vocational programs increased by 27 percent from 2007 to 2010 and enrollment in academic/transfer programs jumped by 16 percent during the same time frame.

"Over the course of the last five years we have handled more students with fewer positions and reduced funding," she commented. "Most recently our enrollment has held fairly stable. In fact, we handled roughly the same number of students from 2008-2009 to 2009-2010."