The welding program at Kirkwood Community College is a fast growing and popular program among students.
The college offers both a one-year diploma and two-year degree for welding. Other programs, such as industrial maintenance and diesel mechanics, also take advantage of the welding lab in Jones Hall.
“We do gas torch welding, gas metal arch, shielded metal arch and flux cored arc welding. There is different subset underneath there, but those are the four main processes,” said Assistant Professor of Welding Dane Dermody. “So across our program, 80-90% of the classes are lab ordained…I would say not very much classroom classes.”
Dermody explained before any kind of welding can be learned, students take safety training. “They go through safety debrief for safe operation of the equipment and then there’s also up front a health and safety course OSHA Specific lab content,” he said. Ensuring students’ safety is a priority, Dermody added.
When joining the program, students need tools to learn and practice the art of welding. “At the beginning of the program, the school offers a tool kit to buy and it has a lot of stuff included like a bag, grinder hood and various other items,” welding student Drew Benz said. “But over my two years, I have gone out and bought a new cordless grinder and various different consumables such as grinding disc, tungsten and cut off wheels.”
At Jones Hall, the welding lab takes up a large portion of the building. Dermody said Kirkwood has about 45 welding booths with machines.
“Each booth has the capability of running shielded metal arc welding. Half of our lab is all multi-process machine. Basically, our lab is set up for students to learn the skill of welding. As far as projects space, we are limited in our space as far as the size of projects in which we can take on, but we do have some space for larger projects,” he said.
As for the learning environment, Kirkwood alumni Marilyn Kugel said she took the one-year diploma program. “It was very inclusive, especially toward women. They were very helpful to help us learn about welding,” she said.
Benz agreed. He added, “The learning environment in the welding lab is one of the key reasons I decided to go to Kirkwood. During my tour I was able to talk to the professors and walk through the lab. The instructors are very helpful and are always able to help you when you can’t seem to get something right.”
Benz said he enjoys the classes. “It’s different in every class. We have various different weldments we have to get done to pass the class. The classes are productive and it’s more of a work-at-your-own-pace for each of the different weldments. Each weldment has its own due date and needs to be done in the allotted time, but you have full say in how long you want to be in class each day so you can be there all day and get a lot of stuff done if you want to, which I like.”
Dermody said students are also given many opportunities while in the program. From scholarships such as the Last Dollar Scholarship and Kibbie Grant to guest speakers who help students learn more about the trade, the many opportunities create connections and networking, and some even help with hands-on lessons.
“It’s a pretty popular program. It fills up pretty quick, so usually early to mid-summer we’re starting to not turn students away but create a waitlist,” Dermody said. He added, interested students should apply as early as possible.
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