Page 6 - WOW Summer 2023

Welding Does More Than Join Metal

By: Melinda Gladish
Students come from all over the world to attend college at
Hobart Institute of Welding Technology. Some come straight
from high school, some are career shifters, and some come
after separating from the military. They come in search of
welding education to help them secure employment after
graduation. They come to learn how to weld, how to read a
blueprint, learn how metallurgy effects the welding process
and so much more.
What they get is a quality education and as a side benefit,
lifelong friendships. There has been story after story of
students meeting while here, going through 24 or 40 weeks of
education and gaining best friends, best men, maids of honor
and even marriages. Recently, I had a group of students who
asked me to come and take their picture separate from the
graduating class photo. There were four of them, two local to
the Troy area, one from New York and one from Connecticut.
They were classmates and became friends.
This friendship, and many more like them, offers a small
glimpse into the day to day of these students. Sure, they spend
numerous hours in their booths perfecting their craft; sure, Pictured L-R: Stephen Schill Southold, NY; Shane Ullery, West Milton, OH; Jarrett Rivera,
they lunch together, live together and even spend time out of New Milford, CT; Keith Morrison, Covington, OH.
classrooms together. More importantly, they bond over what
brought them together in the first place - their love of sparks,
of hot metal and weld tests, of the desire to obtain a career that will sustain them for their lifetime. They bond over being part of a family, not just the
Hobart Institute of Welding Technology family, but the family of welders that serves and supports the industry that builds this great country of ours.

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