The American Welding Society Regional Welding Competition was hosted by Surry Community College on April 22, when welding students from all over the state competed to produce the best welds.
During the one-day competition, participants used their skill sets to make welds using a number of different processes in the newly expanded welding lab at Surry Community College. Students followed a Welding Procedure Specification (WPS) to complete the weldments. SCC’s welding lab has 26 booths each equipped with various machines. Surry also has a Fanuc robot with the Lincoln Electric welding educational cell.
“Welding instructors from the community colleges had time to network, discuss changes in welder training using virtual reality simulators and how they can play a role in our curriculums,” said Surry Community College Lead Welding Instructor Michael Dixon. “Instructors were able to tour our campus and visit our Industrial Training Center and mechatronics labs as well.”
Surry welding students did not participate in the contest, but served as lab facilitators for the guest students.
Brad Baugus of Lenoir Community College placed first as the overall winner and also received the best SMAW (Stick) weld. Steven Deaton of Craven Community College earned second place overall, and Mike Staley of Lenoir Community College placed third overall. Inez Mickel of Guilford Technical Community College won Best GTAW (TIG) weld. Mitchell Harrell of Nash Community College earned Best GMAW (MIG) weld.
All of the North Carolina Community Colleges with welding programs were invited to attend the event. The community colleges with representation were: Central Piedmont Community College, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, Lenoir Community College, Craven Community College, Nash Community College, Richmond Community College, Guilford Technical Community College, Wake Technical Community College and Johnston Community College.
The competition was sponsored by AWS Section 140 and AWS Section 87 along with Surry Community College. Multiple instructors and company representatives supplied prizes for the competitors that were donated by vendors and industry partners.
For more information, contact Michael Dixon, Welding Lead Instructor, at (336) 386-3242 or dixonm@surry.edu or go to www.surry.edu. The Surry Welding program also has several social media sites that can be followed by looking up “SurryWelding” on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
