MOSES LAKE — Moses Lake High School welders will be heading to state competitions March 27 and 28. The team this year consists of freshman Connor Nelson, sophomore Roenin Matosich and junior William Bennet.  

According to welding teacher Jimmy Herrin, the students just received the design for this year’s project, a tripod grill. Students then will work on welds and skills they think they will need to complete the object. The students will receive blueprints for the project 24 hours before the competition. 

“This is so they have a chance to actually wrap their head around what they are going to have to build,” Herrin said.  

Then students will show up to the state competition; teachers will not be able to assist during the competition and the students will have four hours to weld the object as a team.  

“The whole idea with state, they get raw materials, a blueprint and they have four hours to get it done,” Herrin said. 

Herrin said he has had a team go to state all four years he has been a teacher for MLHS. His first year, the team placed 18th out of 27 teams. The second year he went, they got fifth. Last year, they got third.  

“It would be nice to win state because then we get to go to nationals,” Herrin said. “We’re hoping to make a run at it this year.”  

Herrin said they took first place at regionals, with ease, which also qualified the students for state.  

“These three guys managed to go to regionals and just cleaned the house,” Herrin said. “They were head and shoulders above everybody else in the competition. We literally just cleaned the house with everybody.”  

This will be Matosich’s second year at state. He was on last year’s third place team.  

“I have been working on getting fitting angles and welding thin sheet metal and just trying to get better at welding thin stuff,” Matosich said. “I don’t want to come off as cocky or anything like that. I think I am decent, but I could be better.” 

This will be Nelson’s first time competing at state. He said he has only been welding for three months.  

“We just got the plans for it today, so I am working on welding three-piece angle joints, which is kind of like three pieces of metal that have to connect at one point and be evenly spaced,” Nelson said.  

This will be Bennet’s second time at state. He was on the team in his freshman year.  

“We are getting better,” Herrin said. “I have only been teaching for four years so I am trying to build something. It’s tough because these kids are a little squirrely–” 

“–Yeah! We definitely are,” interjected freshman Malakai Podolan, a student who was working on his project after school. 

“See, just squirrely.” Herrin said. “I was squirrely in high school; I am not surprised. Welding draws in a squirrely crowd.”  

Herrin said the students have been improving because he’s consistently “riding and badgering’ them when they do things incorrectly. 

“To do this, and to do this successfully, you have to do it right,” Herrin said. “It has taken them a moment to get used to me because a lot of them are like ‘you’re mean.’ No, I am just giving it to these kids straight. I am not going to tell them something is great, if it’s not. I am trying to prepare them for their future and giving them compliments on crappy work isn’t going to set them up for success.” 

Herrin said the team he has compiled for state all take critiques very well, which he said has allowed them to improve significantly from their time in the shop. 

“I guess we will have to see how state (competition) plays out,” Herrin said. “But we would really like to go to nationals and clean house, if we can.”  

    A diagram of the object students will have to create at state this year. Moses Lake High School is sending three students to compete after the team of boys won regionals.
  

    Roenin Matosich works on welding two pieces of metal together. Matosich is one of the three boys heading to the state welding competition, alongside William Bennet and Connor Nelson.
  

    Students gather around welding teacher Jimmy Herrin after school Tuesday. Several students work in the shop for a couple of hours after school ends each day.
  

    Conner Nelson will be competing at State next week with two other students. Nelson said he started welding about three months ago.
  

    Malakai Podolyam, freshman, works on one of his welding projects after school. Students gather in the shop to work on projects most days, according to teacher Jimmy Herrin.