Fourteen Houston ISD students are certified welders thanks to a partnership between the district and Houston Community College.
Four seniors and 10 juniors from Austin High School graduated with Basic Welding Helper Certificates on Saturday. How did juniors earn the certificate? The courses the students took at Austin HS were dual credit and the juniors also completed required classes at HCC Southeast, which made them eligible for the certificate.
The path to the certificate was not simple. The students attended their regular classes at Austin HS during the day and then took up to three more classes after school. College Access Coordinator William Stickney said many of the students were in class for nearly 12 hours a day, Monday-Friday, during the spring semester.
Their hard work paid off. Each student will now be able to work as an entry-level welder and earn a minimum of $25-$30 an hour.
The following students earned a Basic Welding Helper Certificate: Seniors Jesus Lopez, Axel Macias, Santos Mendoza, Carlos Rangel; Juniors Jesus Arroyo, Mauricio Arroyo, Ozhiel Garza, Lizandro Gutierrez, Eric Medrano, Alberto Munoz, Guillermo Novoa, Marlon Reyes, Andres Saucedo, and Juan Carlos Vela.
Are you interested in joining this program? If you are and attend Austin HS, email William Stickney at wstickne@houstonisd.org or Catherine Smith, a dual credit coordinator, at csmith10@houstonisd.org. If you don’t attend Austin HS but want to participate, please contact Hilda Sustaita at Houston Community College by calling 713-718-7501 or emailing hilda.sustaita@hccs.edu.
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I am a nurse and I am the MI nurse at Dowling Middle schoolwhen I read the article it was very uplifting to see whats happening at other schools as far as assisting our
students to investigate other career paths.I am not sure if this is an option for all of the schools and their students, if the counselors do not present this as an opportunity they have failed our children.
Fantastic! Fourteen individuals that will be able to provide for themselves and their families! Job security at it’s best, thank you HISD and HCC for understanding the need for trade education.
This success story was enabled by the team effort of the HCC Liaison, Catherine Smith, the College Access Coordinator, William Stickney, and the 12th grade Counselor, Alfredo Vila. They say,” it takes a village to raise a child” and “at Austin HS, Home of the Mighty Mustangs, we are part of the village”.
Special thanks to Dr.William Tapp, a program director at Houston Community College, who spearheaded this initiative and to Mr. Jorge Arredondo, our principal, who approved the program to take place at Austin HS.
House Bill 5 (HB 5)
Starting this upcoming 2014-2015 school year, all incoming high school freshman will be required to complete a 4 year personal graduation plan in which the student , the parent , and an educator will help guide the student’s choice of a career pathway and course electives that will ultimately lead into a technical or college career.