Sparks fly at welding competition

HHS, DHS students earn high marks

Thirty-eight students from 11 schools, including both Destrehan and Hahnville, took part in an Associated Builders and Contractors welding competition in St. Rose.

Inspectors from Shell/Motiva, Lincoln Electric, Marathon Oil and Valero served as the judges at the event, which began with a written test that covered such topics as safety, power tools, hand tools and welding.

Then the actual welding began.

Scores from the written test and the welding test, along with safety and cleanup efforts, were used to determine the top participants.

“It was excellent and we had a really good turnout,” Chris Weber, of ABC, said. “The 38 students that took part in the competition really represented their schools well.”

Weber said students from Hahnville and Destrehan, including Ethan Landry, Christopher Henning, Eugene Marcel Jr., Melvin Melancon, Andre Sanders Jr., and Andrew Wyatt did very well at the event.

“It was a really close competition this year and not many points separated third place from tenth place,” he said.
The top students were honored at an awards ceremony where students listened to company representatives and contractors discuss the ins and outs of their respective fields. Every student also walked away with a prize that was donated from industry around the area.

Those prizes included automatic welding shields, black dress shirts, maglites, tools, camouflage hats, safety glasses and gift certificates for car washes.