Washtenaw Community College welding student Alex Pazkowski, 19, who recently won a gold medal in welding at a national championship last month, works in the lab. He is preparing for a series of work assignments that will be given to him by the WorldSkills competition. If he gets enough points, he’ll qualify to compete at the competition in London in 2011.

Angela Cesere | AnnArbor.com

Welding may seem like an old-fashioned trade that’s not relevant in today’s information-technology driven world.

But welding is a thriving and demanding area of study at Washtenaw Community College, where local students have won national awards for their talents and one student has set his sights on an international competition next year.

Saline resident Alex Pazkowski, 19, who recently won a gold medal in welding at the SkillsUSA national championship last month, is preparing for a series of work assignments that will be given to him by the WorldSkills competition. If he gets enough points, he’ll qualify to compete at the WorldSkills competition in London in 2011.

Given the school’s history, Pazkowski has a good chance of making it to the competition. WCC students have medaled at the last seven international championships. “In terms of international winners, we’re pretty well known,” said Brad Hoth, an adviser in vocational technology at WCC.

Coley McLean, a professor of welding and welding fabrication at WCC, said there’s around 500 or 600 welding students in the program each year, because the school has one of the largest welding facilities in the country. Since McLean began teaching at WCC 12 years ago, she estimates that the enrollment has grown by up to 50 percent. Now WCC offers seven days of welding classes a week, instead of four. “The numbers keep going up because our reputation keeps getting better,” she said.

Glenn Kay, one of two teachers at WCC who work with the competitive welding students, says the students who win these championships look especially attractive to employers, and some employers even call the school asking to speak to the winners about job opportunities.

On Thursday, McLean took a phone call at the welding lab from a company that wanted to let all welding students know about job openings. McLean said these are common calls to the welding lab, adding that automotive, manufacturing and production companies call as well.

McLean admits that the job market for welders in Michigan isn’t as good as it was five years ago, but she thinks it’s turning around. She said the market is better in southern states where there is a higher demand for infrastructure.

Welding student Ashley Webel, a 25-year-old from Ann Arbor who also won a gold medal at the national championship in a team of students in welding fabrication, feels lucky that she’ll have better job opportunities “because such a good school is practically in our backyard.”

Pazkowski feels the same. “With this award I can prove to employers that I have the knowledge and skills to do what they want me to do,” Pazkowski said. “Of course wherever I go they’re going to test me. But if there’s thirty or forty guys trying to get a job, that’s going to put me ahead.”

So what does it take to be a national, and possibly international, champion in a trade skill? A lot of practice.

“For the most part, our welding competitors are here 7 days a week, 10, 12, 14 hours a day,” said Kay. “That’s beyond their scheduled classes. They’ve got a full load in front of them.”

“Welding is not like painting or carpentry,” Kay said. “It’s very, very difficult. [Students] have to put in a ton of hours.”

And especially in the summer months, “It’s hot!” Kay said. “It’s not the most desirable job for most people. It takes a special kind of person to take a liking to it.”

Pazkowski said he practiced welding for 12 to 14 hours a day in the months leading up to the competition.

Webel said she and her two group members fit 10-hour practices into their schedules to prepare for the competition.

Pazkowski and Webel, interviewed separately, said they “fell in love” with welding by chance. Pazkowski tried it once in a shop class in high school, and Webel’s interest in welding was piqued when hanging out with a friend who worked on cars.

At the Skills USA Competition, which took place June 21-June 26 in Kansas City, Mo., high school and secondary students compete in trades such as auto repair, cosmetology, culinary arts, firefighting and many more.

The WCC students had to win state and regional competitions in order to compete at the Skills USA Competition. Pazkowski competed against 34 other welders in the national competition, and Webel competed against 18 other teams in welding fabrication.

Pazkowski was judged his abilities to execute several different welding procedures. Webel and her team were given six hours to build a barbecue grill. The team was judged on how accurately the grill matched the design they made and the quality of their welding. The team also faced penalties if they wasted material—they had to vacuum up all leftover dust, which judges then weighed.

After coming home with the gold, Webel and Pazkowski are focused on continuing their classes at WCC. As for the future, Webel says she’s always been interested working with structural steel. “I’d love to say that I helped change the skyline of a city one day” she said. “Building bridges, skyscrapers, things like that.”

Pazkowski wants to be a high school or college welding instructor. “I like that with every [student] it’s a different challenge. If you weld one thing you know the next thing will be the same. I want to have variety, a different challenge every day.” He plans to pursue a degree in industrial arts and education.

Was he inspired by his teachers at WCC? “Absolutely. I know they love their job. They tell me it’s the best job they ever had.”

Tara Cavanaugh is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com. To reach the news desk, call 734-623-2530 or e-mail news@annarbor.com.