A Career in Welding was Plan A
It seems like welding was always in Sebastian Lewis’s future. After first discovering it in his high school’s Vo-Tech program, he knew there was something special about fusing metals together.
“I wanted to do welding since I was 15, 16,” he said. “I’d weld for my friends. I’d weld some of my friends’ garages and stuff like that. Fix their lawnmowers. It was always simple stuff, but this was always a trade I wanted to do.” It didn’t take him long to realize that welding would be an important part of his life for years to come.
Watch: Sebastian Discusses How Welding School Helped Him Secure a Future
Looking for a welding school, Sebastian learned about NCST. He knew NCST was a trade school near him and thought it could be the educational experience he needed. He visited the campus and quickly enrolled in the Combination Welding program. He quickly learned he had structure he needed and freedom to be creative.
“The teachers are hands on, but they’re not standing over my shoulder and making sure I’m really paying attention to that history lesson,” Sebastian said. “In trade school they give you this piece of metal and let you build it for yourself. Bring it to us when you’re done, and we’ll give you pointers, then you go back and fix it yourself.”
Sebastian found a career path he was interested in and a field he felt comfortable with, more than that he took something he loved doing and made it a job.
“Welding’s an art. It takes a lot of heart, and there are a lot of things you can do with it. There’s a lot that goes into it. You have to be able to steady yourself properly and form a pattern. It’s complex, and you just work toward mastering it.”
And with that freedom comes new perspectives. The teacher is the classroom and shop leader, but ideas come from all directions. Everyone contributes to make sure everyone else is succeeding.
“Anybody here can teach you something. It’s not just the teacher who’s teaching,” he said. “I can go to the 30-year-old veteran in our class, and he knows things from his time in Iraq when he was welding a Humvee. The people who don’t know how to weld are showing up, and they find a new technique they share with everyone.”
Lost in High School, Finding Opportunity in Trade School
Like many others in high school, Sebastian kind of slipped by, advancing with mediocre grades and a lot of what he called apathetic teachers. He wasn’t passionate about anything he did. But while the high school experience wasn’t all it’s cracked up to be, he did learn something that changed the way he looked at the world and life.
“High school made me realize that education isn’t just in my hands. It’s also in the teacher’s hands,” Sebastian said. “Some teachers care; some don’t. If you don’t enjoy being in school, that’s not going help you enjoy it. I just kind of cruised through it. I just wanted to get done with it.”
He also had a limited support structure in place at school. He didn’t fit into the usual cliques. His friends also largely struggled. Some had issues even going to school. But Sebastian was already looking at trade school for his future plans.
Supportive Learning Environment
At NCST, Sebastian found a community where teachers are supportive and helpful, and classmates are future colleagues.
“There’s always something you can learn from anybody in the trades. I can go to auto tech. I can go to construction. Any of those kids will be able to share any of their knowledge, just like the teachers,” he said.
“My teachers at NCST, when they look at your welds, their input that makes you want to keep doing what you’re doing. It makes you want to improve.”
Sebastian has landed a job welding dumpsters, and said he’s having fun learning his trade on the job. But he has an eye on a future, where he’s able to work in different jobs, on different projects, using different types of welding.
“I want to try something structural related. Maybe structural MIG welding or structural flux welding. Something that really makes an impact on the world,” he said. “Forge welding. Forging is so cool.”
Finding a Secure Career in Welding
And aside from a passion, Sebastian looks at welding as a career he can keep for the long haul. “I have helped not only secure me a job for my future, for right now, but for the next 20 years, for the next 40 years, welding can be my career. Every bridge you drive over has a weld on it. The buildings you stand in are welded together. The cars you drive are put together with welds.” And Sebastian has a lot of options for welding careers. He can work as a fabricator, pipe welder, or underwater welder, all tracks that emphasize different skills, and contributing in real ways to making society better.And Sebastian said his trade school experience made those options possible.
“If I had the chance to tell somebody to come to NCST, I would tell them to not miss an opportunity,” he said. “Do something for yourself that you know you’re going to love and appreciate. You’ll be paying a lot more at college than you would here.”
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