VGCC Franklin Campus Offers Basic Welding Class for Kittrell Job Corps Students

For the second consecutive summer semester, Vance-Granville Community College’s Franklin County Campus recently partnered with Kittrell Job Corps Center to offer a course that will enhance the vocational training of 12 students who are enrolled in various “hard-hat” trades through Job Corps.The two-week, 30-hour course in Basic Welding included seven students from Facilities Maintenance, four students from the Brick Masonry trade and one student from the Carpentry trade. The students were introduced to basic welding skills including safety, oxyacetylene welding, cutting operations, arc welding and art welding. In addition, the students participated in hands-on activities which enabled them to learn welding techniques and get a better understanding of career opportunities in the welding field.The class was taught by Russell Wahrman, who is a certified welding instructor and inspector with more than 25 years of experience. Wahrman currently teaches on a part-time basis at the Franklin Campus for students from the three local high schools. Each student earned 3.0 Continuing Education units and was presented with a certificate of participation on June 25.“This was an excellent opportunity for me and my Job Corps associates to be able to add Basic Welding to our credentials,” Facilities Maintenance student Dena Robinson, who was the only female in the class, said. “This was a great program and I’m glad to have been selected.”Brick Masonry student Supreme LaBoo said, “I loved this class because Mr. Wahrman is a great teacher and he gave me good advice about welding safety. I look forward to taking the Welding Class at [VGCC’s] main campus.”“I’ve learned a lot since my first day and I’m still soaking it all in,” Carpentry student Jarvis Williams remarked. “I want to become a professional welder.”Facilities Maintenance student Donta Burwell commented, “Mr. Wahrman is a good teacher and he stresses to us to make this a fun learning process. It’s a nice program and I plan on learning more about welding.”Franklin Campus Director Anthony Pope initiated this partnership in the summer of 2006 by offering a Basic Electrical class for ten Job Corps students. In an effort to maintain and enhance the relationship, Pope and William Burwell, Vocational Manager at Kittrell Job Corps, discussed the possibility of offering another course. “The Basic Welding class was the perfect choice,” according to Pope. “Not only could this course involve students from all 3 hard-hat trades, it was also a curriculum that the students could enroll in at the main campus upon completion at Kittrell,” he said. “We would now like to take a look at some of the ‘soft’ trades (Business, Nursing, Culinary Technology, etc.) and see if we can implement additional training that will enhance these trades,” Pope added. “We’ve also looked at the possibility of offering mini-courses in the fall and spring semesters.”With Kittrell Job Corps now under new management and with the expansion of course offerings at VGCC’s campuses in Franklin County, Warren County and southern Granville County, Pope believes that this is an opportunity for a long-lasting partnership between the Franklin County Campus and Kittrell Job Corps Center.Above: Welding Instructor Russell Wahrman welds while KJCC students look on. (KJCC Photo)