Page 5 - HIWT Winter 2011 World of Welding

hiwt@welding.org HOBART INSTITUTE OF WELDING TECHNOLOGY

eRic leuGeRS ReTuRnS TO HOBaRT inSTiTuTe fOR
cWi TRaininG anD eXam

Eric Leugers completed the Combination Structural and Pipe
Welding Program at Hobart Institute in 2007 with perfect
attendance. At the time, he was working at Wells Brothers,
Inc. while attending school, a job he had held since he was
a junior in high school. Eric had also earned the Howard B.
Cary Scholarship that assisted him in financing his education.

His ambition paid off and after graduating from Hobart, Eric
was offered a position welding at the Lima Army Tank Plant,
building military vehicles. It wasn’t long before he was also
hired as an adult welding instructor teaching evening classes
at Apollo Career Center in addition to working full time.

“Ever since my father showed me how to strike that first arc
with our old stick welder, I’ve been hooked,” says Eric, who
grew up on a farm and began welding at a young age. “Back
in the early 1970’s, my grandfather, Wilfred Leugers, attended
Hobart and was asked, along with the rest of his class, to weld
on the Alaskan pipeline. This kind of opportunity is only
something I can dream about!” Eric Leugers
HIWT graduate and AWS Certified Welding Inspector
Eric wants to learn all he can about welding, so this past
summer, Eric returned to Hobart Institute to enroll in the
Preparation for the American Welding Society Certified
Welding Inspector / Educator Course and passed the exam to
become a CWI.

“I see this opportunity as a new opening in my future,” Eric
comments, “an opening with more job security, the potential
for more money, and most of all, more success. I have been
welding on job sites and in production areas. I know what
kind of hard work and commitment it takes to be competitive
in this field.”

Eric has already had a wide range of welding experience
including TIG welding on food grade stainless steel,
fabricating stairs and mezzanines, building catwalks, stick
welding on structural steel, and welding military vehicles, in
addition to teaching.

“I owe a lot to the employers I have had who have allowed me
the opportunity to further my education,” Eric continues.

In addition to work, Eric also serves his community as
a volunteer firefighter with the Kettlersville-Van Buren
Township Fire Department. He and his wife, Diane, a certified
occupational therapy assistant, along with their baby son,
Trent, reside in the Botkins area.

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