Page 3 - Spring World of Welding - HIWT

Disruption & Balance

2020, what a year and it’s only half over.
Trying to write an article for the World of Welding that ignores the Covid-19 Pandemic is an
impossible task. It’s too big an issue to ignore, as it has impacted all of us.
My position with the Institute allows me the fun and luxury of always thinking ahead. I
am looking 1 year, 5 years, and into the distant future with a vision of how to serve future
generations of welders. During this pandemic, that ability to forward think has provided
some solitude during these unprecedented times. It has allowed the ability to focus on
what comes next with the crisis and school planning.
The balance of a crisis and future thinking is a difficult juggle. The crisis must be dealt
with now, the safety and well-being of our staff, our students, families and our community
is paramount. While knowing this crisis is “temporary” the operations and future of the
school will continue and we must be prepared.
Our Business and our Team certainly took a hard shot when we sent our entire student By Scott A. Mazzulla, President
population home on March 13, 2020. Starting immediately on March 16th we were Hobart Institute of Welding Technology
planning on how to bring them back to campus and what that would look like. Being
surrounded by an abundance of uncertainty, it was a day to day plan with a watchful eye and
ear to health experts. But knowing at some point students would return, we had to prepare
our campus and employees to serve our mission.
The education this prestigious school provides is about forward-thinking. Students decided at some point that going forward
becoming a welder is what they want. Once in school and committing themselves in the welding booths and classrooms, it’s 6 or
10 months of thinking ahead toward a career. During the course of education, students encounter plenty of disruptions, but they
must look beyond with vision because their career beckons.
A maritime vessel has thousands of welds done by hundreds of welders. The vehicles we drive have hundreds of welds done by
numerous welders. Heavy equipment, pipelines, bridges, roller coasters all have thousands of welds done by many welders. The
point is, we create all these products together. None of the vehicles we drive or roller coasters we ride or bridges we cross are
built alone; together we create and together we weld. This coronavirus……together we will get through.

Stay Safe and Weld Safe.

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