Forging success: the impact of mentorship
L evi Beard (’20) is a welder who has successfully made a career out of his passion for metalworking. However, his journey to become a skilled welder was not a straightfor- ward one. He credits his success to the welding program at LTC and the exceptional instructors who pushed him to be his best. Jackson Hemrich, one of the welding instructors at LTC, believes that welding is an excellent trade for students who don’t like bookwork and are good with their hands. He notes that each student has their own pace, and it is crucial to work with them individually. “It’s important for each kid to go whichever direction they want to go. I think that welding is a little bit differ - ent than other programs because each kid’s in their own individual area we get to work with them individually.” Hemrich says he takes pride in his one-on-one rela- tionship with their students. “It makes me feel good because I feel like we’re family here. Like once I have each student, they’re like one of my kids and they will be until the day I die.”
They just kept pushing me and wouldn’t let me be late to class the next morning. They’d make sure I was here every day,” Levi shared. Beard found the welding program at LTC to be particularly useful in preparing him for his career. The blueprints class at LTC helped him understand blue- prints better at Hobart. “We did blueprints class at LTC. It got me through Hobart and out on my very first job. If I wouldn’t have been able to do that here, I wouldn’t be able to understand it better at Hobart, and I definitely wouldn’t be able to do it for a job,” Levi said. Beard’s experience in the welding program at LTC was a turning point in his life. “Within the first month, this is something that I knew I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I wanted to make a career out of it. So, when I found that out, when I found out I want to do this rest of my life, I started going home and I was practicing at home, watching videos on welding, looking for jobs, looking for other schools to better my education in it. And so, it just meant a lot to me because it’s something that I knew I was going to do the rest of my life,” Levi shared. For those who are unsure about college or who are looking for a hands-on career, Beard strongly recom- mends giving welding a try. “There are so many possi - bilities in this field to make money, and there’s endless kinds of work. If you’re kind of stuck and you don’t know what you’re going to do in college, I would really, really strongly consider giving welding a try,” Hemrich also believes that welding is a good opening
Beard’s experience in the welding program at LTC was a testament to the power of that personal touch in education. He found welding to be hard and complicated in the first week. However, with the help of Hemrich and Reno Bemont, he decided to stick with it for another two years. “Reno and Jackson saw something in me that I couldn’t say any of my other teachers saw in me. They pushed me and let me know that I had a bright future in this line of work. It was kind of like a dad to some level.
ABOVE: Levi Beard practices welding a pipe at LTC’s McCoy Welding Center.
26 LTC Annual Report
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