4-H'ers Enjoy Welding Workshop

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Weldinbg had become a popular workshop for 4-H members from both rural and urban areas. New Mexico State University's Anna María Pérez-Wright has the story.

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Open: Nat. Sound.... A welding workshop sparked the interest of more than 65 kids, making it the most popular workshop at the New Mexico State 4-H Conference. Agricultural Agent Geno Lujan with New Mexico State University's Cooperative Extension Service coordinated the workshop.

"I felt like if we were going to teach kids something about fun and 4-H, we needed something that was an instant success. You can learn to weld and you can put two pieces of metal together very quickly and once you learn to do that I think it gives the kids, or boys and girls, a sense of pride of what they're trying to achieve."

Los Alamos High School student Lacey Thorne lives on a small farm and raises animals for 4-H projects. She sees the importance of knowing how to weld daily.

"My dad has always welded and I always thought it was really cool and when I was little I would always go with him on odd jobs, so I always wanted to do it. It's just really cool to be able to help your parents out welding or whatever."

Fourteen-year-old Amanda Dearholt lives in Albuquerque, where she has no opportunities to learn welding, but says she still has a high appreciation for the trade.

"If you look around you, see how much welding there is and, like, really how many things you can do with welding. You have so many things in your household and you can look around and you can find so many things somebody welded and it's cool to think that you did something like that yourself."

Almost 700 4-H members attended the state conference and participated in a variety of workshops and contests. For N-M-S-U's College of Agriculture and Home Economics, I'm Anna María Pérez-Wright.