Sterling High School will offer a new course in its airframe engineering and design program in the 2015–2016 school year: welding.

The school is able to offer welding through a new partnership with Houston Community College. Students who successfully complete all of the necessary courses will earn a certificate as a welder’s helper. If they go on to study at Houston Community College, they will be able to take advanced welding courses there.

Entry-level pay for a welder is about $45,000, with a bonus and overtime structure that could net upwards of $65,000 to $85,000 per year.

“The demand for welders is so high in the industrial construction sector, that quite literally, we could have a program in every high school and not meet the labor demand in our region,” said Michael Webster, assistant superintendent of Career Readiness.

Other high schools in HISD that offer welding include Austin, Jordan, Lee, Madison and Milby.