In the Fall of 2023, the West Shore Career-Technical District received a $5.78 million grant to expand the career tech program. After receiving the grant, the West Shore advisors were faced with deciding what programs to add.
“Welding is an in-demand profession, it’s growing,” Yakoob Badat, the educational coordinator of West Shore Career Tech, said.
West Shore decided to add welding and MEMS programs. The welding class syllabus requires a lot of large equipment, which also meant adding to the D building. The new location behind the school will feature all the essentials for welding students.
“There will be 24 welding booths and we will have some plasma-cutting machines,” Badat said. “The second floor will be classroom space.”
Future welding teacher and long-time Lakewood resident Joseph Zrnich is excited to teach in the building.
“I live in Lakewood,” Zrnich said. “My daughters go to the school district. I have been a Lakewood resident for almost 20 years… I taught on the east side in Euclid, but I wanted to be closer to home and be within my community and teach my community.”
Zrnich has experience in the welding industry.
“I worked at Lincoln Electric for 27 years,” Zrnich said. “I started on the manufacturing floor as a piece worker. Then, after I transferred over from piece work, I went into construction millwright. My last project ever as a construction millwright was building a new weld school for Lincoln Electric.”
The coursework will consist of multiple stages and lessons.
“First [students] will learn safety. Then they will go into the principles of welding. As they go through those principles they will start four major processes: shielded metal arc welding, gas metal arc welding, flux cored arc welding, and gas tungsten arc welding,” said Zrnich, “On top of that they will also learn blueprinting and three different cutting processes: oxy-fuel cutting, plasma arc cutting, and carbon arc gouging.”
The entire course ensures that students will be successful in the welding industry.
“My goal is to have as many seniors as I can working in the industry their senior year,” Zrnich said. “I’d love to see a lot of students do work-based learning, be it in the lab or outside of the lab, actually going to a company and trying to develop their skills outside of high school.”
Students are excited by the new addition to the school and West Shore program. Some students, such as senior Edy Keeper, wish the program would have been implemented sooner.
“I would have taken welding if I had been given the opportunity,” Keeper said. “I am currently in the Automotive Technology West Shore but it would have been fun to take the welding class.”
There are currently fourteen different West Shore programs for students to take, sixteen with the addition of MEMS and welding. They can range from all kinds of career paths from nursing, to construction, to culinary arts. These career technical programs are designed to help students in their future careers. West Shore blends both academic and physical, hands-on learning.
“There are technical skills, skills that you have to earn. Technical skills are hands-on. But there is also the skill of knowledge, because the reality is, you have to learn something before you do it,” Badat said. “So that is why, with career tech you get the best of both worlds.”
West Shore students are also able to display their skills in real-world situations. Former culinary student Sophia Kowalski had the opportunity to travel to Denver for the FCCLA National Baking and Pastry competition.
“It was a unique experience that wouldn’t have been possible without my culinary class,” said Kowalski. “It gave me good experience for my future career.”
All West Shore Career tech programs allow students to learn skills they will use in their real-world careers.
“My ultimate goal is to provide students with a plethora of opportunities,” Badat said. “It’s an opportunity. My goal is to allow students to explore and help them identify their paths.”
