First Welding Rodeo Held on East Coast

Florence-Darlington Technical College (Florence, SC) held its first "Welding Rodeo" on April 30 and May 1 at the college's Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology. Five teams of professional welders and five teams of amateur welding students competed to create welded sculptures that fit the theme of "Motion."

The 10 teams, with only four members working at one time, each had just eight hours to create a piece of art using only a pile of scrap material. At the end of the competition, the sculptures were judged by an independent panel of local sculptors, and prizes were awarded to the top teams. The completed sculptures were auctioned off at the end of the competition with proceeds going to support FDTC's Welding Technology Student Scholarship Fund.

Planning for the event began more than one year ago when FDTC's Educational Foundation met with leaders from ESAB Welding and Cutting Products

Jill Heiden, executive director of the FDTC Foundation, said, "ESAB took the challenge head on by designing the logos, brochures, and website graphics for the event and assisting with the electrical output needed for welders and other vendors. ESAB also provided prizes and contracted displays from Big Foot and Trick My Truck and arranged for the Association for Manufacturing Technology (AMT) to donate "The Balloon Lady" display. This was a true partnership between the College and ESAB." In addition to providing $25,000 worth of services to the event, ESAB also entered a team in the professional division.

Ross Gandy, director of FDTC's Advanced Welding and Cutting Center, headed up all compliance issues and oversaw the building and equipping of the welding competition area. "Ross Gandy worked his magic with all the school participants as well as our own FDTC and ESAB team," Heiden said.

The American Welding Society (AWS) also had a booth at the event and offered promotional materials on welding as a career. AWS Education spokesperson Jerry Uttrachi called events like the Welding Rodeo "one of the strongest things we can do" to encourage students to pursue a career in welding. "These were bright, aggressive kids, the kind we need in the industry," he said, noting that the quality of the welds produced during the competition was excellent. "It excites me to see high school kids who could easily go on to great careers in welding and even own their own businesses. In today's world, having control of your own destiny is a noble goal."

Nucor Steel of Darlington County won the professional division and a $1600 grand prize with their sculpture of a moving dolphin. Honda of South Carolina in Timmonsville took second place and $1200 with a curvy, free-form sculpture mounted on a giant "H."

Welding students from Central Carolina Technical College in Sumter, SC, won the amateur division and an $800 grand prize for their portrayal of an eagle catching a fish. ESAB donated $10,000 worth of welding equipment to the winning amateur team and gave welding helmets and gloves to each of the participants. Florence Career Center students finished second with their sculpture called "The Vortex," and the team from Florence-Darlington Technical College's Advanced Welding and Cutting Center took home the Honorable Mention prize for their interpretation of a motorcycle.

"Our company was very pleased with what we saw happening here," said Lynn Stock of Nucor Steel. "Nucor approached this as a neat opportunity to get the community involved and show what the college has to offer to the community and to industry. SIMT is a world-class facility, and the community doesn't have much chance to see all that they have to offer. SIMT can provide the talent that Nucor will hire in the future."

Mike Crosby, advisor for the Florence Career Center team, was also very impressed with the event. "I thought it was a great opportunity for the students to 'stretch their legs' and also to spend time around other welders. They don't have a lot of opportunities to 'play,' to have fun and work hard."

Axil Reis, advisor for the Central Carolina Technical College team, says the event gave his students the opportunity to experience what it is like to work as a team. "They really enjoyed it but they also realized that it was a lot of work," he says. "Most of them had never experienced a full day of work as a welder."

He also noted that this competition showed both the students and the community the broad spectrum of work as a welder. "You can be an artistic welder like this, or you can work in the structural or fabrication fields. There are many possibilities. No one really knows what welding is capable of doing. This was a great thing to show the community. It was an excellent experience and the college did an excellent job of putting it together." Both teams said they were eager to participate again next year.

After the winners were announced, the sculptures were auctioned off to the highest bidder. Nucor Steel Vice President Mike Gurley made the winning bid of $2000 for the Nucor team's dolphin. Hoyt Wood of Lake City, SC, bought Central Carolina's creation for $800. ESAB purchased its team's entry of bull riders in a rodeo ring and will put it on permanent display at the Southeastern Institute of Manufacturing and Technology on the FDTC campus. The auction raised just over $10,000 for the FDTC scholarship program.

Plans are already underway to make next year's competition even bigger and better with room for more teams to compete and with the possible addition of a car show in conjunction with the rodeo. "We wanted to create something that Florence will really enjoy," Heiden says, as well as promoting welding as a career choice. ESAB and FDTC are very happy with the results of their first rodeo, Heiden notes, adding, "the unbelievable creativity of the sculptures was way beyond what we expected."

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