East Central College in Missouri Awards First MIG Welding Certificates

by megustasoldarmucho · January 24, 2015

East Central College in Union, Missouri has awarded certificates to the first batch of participants of its MIG Welding program. The five students completed the eight week program that was held in the welding lab of the Warrenton High School.

The program included National Career Readiness certificate, five weeks of welding instruction, and OSHA 10 certification. The awarding was held on November 15. Warrenton Steel, a local manufacturer, enrolled their workers into the program so that they can get welding knowledge to help the company in repairing equipment.

Gary Carter, owner of Warrenton Steel, said that the education of their workers from the program will hasten their operations. Work stoppage due to maintenance of the machines will be reduced by having several workers who are able to do welding repairs right away.

Mardy Leathers, executive director of the Center for Workforce Development of the ECC, said that the welding program was made to help the efforts of local businesses and industry. Leathers said that they continue to hear from local businesses that required workers with introductory MIG welding skills. ECC prides on being a resource of training for local businesses to keep them competitive in their industries.

The MIG Welding program is funded by the Missouri Manufacturing WINs. It is a grant-funded program of the US Department of Labor that serves Trade Act participants, as well as unemployed and underemployed people, veterans, and low skilled people in the state. The program gives qualified students with free or low cost training in high growth, high demand industries at proven training institutions.