Texas State Technical College West Texas will host a high school welding competition on Friday, and will also have the college’s new mobile welding lab on display at the Brownwood Campus.

The competition will feature two categories: on-site skills and projects.  The skills contest allows students to showcase their talents, and the projects category will judge a project that is completed prior to the competition and brought for judging.  There will be five local judges for the event.

According to organizers, schools planning to attend include Bangs, Cherokee, Coleman, Cooper, Lometa, May, Priddy, Granbury and Rochelle. Judging will get underway at 10:00 AM.

The state-of-the-art mobile welding lab that will also be on display is a self-contained lab/classroom that will be open for the public to walk through and even take a turn welding a bead. The mobile lab was designed and fabricated to allow TSTC West Texas to take welding instruction to remote locations to serve both industry and educational institutions. It is this flexibility that allows the school to customize training to fit the customer’s needs.

The mobile lab is equipped with eight state-of-the-art multi-process welding machines and a classroom which seats eight. As the need for qualified welders in the Big Country continues to grow, this invaluable tool will help fill those positions with trained workers.

The public is welcome to tour the mobile lab, meet TSTC faculty, staff and tour the entire campus. TSTC West Texas offers more than 25 programs in industries that are hiring now. Some programs require only one semester of instruction. Financial aid is available. TSTC West Texas is rated a Military Friendly School and veteran services are available. For more information please call 325.641.3911.

Picture at top shows students working in the welding lab.