Page 10 - HIWT Summer 2018 World of Welding

HIWT Rides

By Melinda Jeffery
Students here at HIWT come from cities and rural areas all across
the world. They come to learn or perfect their craft as welders.
Each has their own direction they plan to take after graduation,
with thoughts of what type of welding they want to pursue as
well as the setting they wish to work. One thing, however, that
they have in common is the goal of getting their dream ride.
When students start their program, most come in older model
pickup trucks or the beater hand-me-down car they got from a
family member. Occasionally, we have one that shows up in a
corvette or a pickup truck that has already been tricked out.
This quarter we are starting a new segment on HIWT Rides; a
look at some of the unique autos that grace our student parking
lot.

John Branham is from Fairborn, OH. He is a student in the
23 week Structural Welding Program and is getting ready to
graduate. He started here at HIWT with a 2003 Ram 1500 pickup
a fairly common ride for a welding student. After realizing
that the trip to and from school was using way too much gas,
he decided to purchase a sedan in order to cut his gasoline
costs. This 2005 Chrysler 300 was the perfect solution for his
gas woes. His classmates started giving him a hard time stating
that his ride was really nice until his hillbilly butt got out of it. John Branham and his 2005 Chrysler 300
Apparently they felt it didnt ft his personality and encouraged
him to put an ornamental hood swan on the front of it. John just
felt that a swan didnt quite ft. So he decided to put bull horns on
instead. Now, he feels the ride fts his personality just fne. I
asked him if he planned to keep the horns on after graduation and
said that not only were they staying, he was considering some
new rims or old school hubcaps as well as lowering it. HIWT
wishes John well as he takes the bull by the horns in life and
his welding career.
Michael Baker is from Warren IN. He started welding at age 17
when he got to run an old Lincoln stick welder with dad in the
garage. He was just running beads on old angle iron that he
pulled out of the woods to practice on for the frst time. Dad
showed him how to set the machine up and run a couple beads
just to try it. Then after his turn to strike an arc he fell in love with
welding. Michael had heard that his cousin Jimmy Sunday had
attended HIWT and had a conversation on what it was like to go
to Hobart. Michael decided to set up a tour in January 2018 and
signed up that same day to start the Combination Structural &
Pipe Welding Program in March 2018. Michael is currently in 6G
pipe class with 4 months left of the program. Michael has come
to HIWT to learn welding and plans pursue aviation welding in
the United States Marine Corp. Hes proud of his 1993 Chevy
S10 and fying his Dont Tread on Me & American Flag down the
streets of Troy OH.

Michael Baker and his 1993 Chevy S10

2018 SUMMER ISSUE - 10 - www.welding.org