A partnership between the Marshall Public Schools (Marshall Career and Technical Institute – MCTI, MATEC, Marshall High School) and Bend-Rite has received a $15,000 LYFT Pathways Innovation award to implement innovation into the current welding course that is a semester long welding certification program to enhance the experience through the education and business partnership.

Students from Marshall Senior High School and MATEC will be enrolled into the program that allows for students who complete the course to receive their Lincoln Electric Welding certifications in the following 4 areas: Gas Metal Arc, Flux-Cored Arc, Shielded Metal Arc, and Gas Tungsten Arc.

This class is a face to face, hands on course. With the partnership, experienced welders from Bend-Rite will attend class periods throughout the semester courses to demonstrate welds, talk about the work in the career field, and allow for visits to their sites. We also hope to work with local technical colleges to get opportunities for students to take a field trip to their campuses to learn more about opportunities for certifications after high school graduation.

Our business partner needs employees whose skills are advanced in welding. The business partnership will play a key role in our programming by demonstrating welding skills to students and collaborating with them. They will share the needs for employees in their businesses and will allow for students to do site visits to learn more about the field. There may also be opportunities for students to gain employment with the business. With planned campus visits within the course work, students will get to learn more about post-secondary options to support further education. A school visit will be arranged and incorporated into each welding course taught at Marshall Public Schools.

For more information contact Amanda Pederson at Marshall Public Schools.