Victor Technologies announces welding, cutting contest winners

Victor Technologies™, St. Louis, a provider of cutting, welding, and gas control equipment, has announced the six winners of its "Innovation to Shape the World" contest for students in welding and cutting programs at secondary and postsecondary schools.

The individual winners are:

• Mikayla Bradford, Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School, Marlborough, Mass. (instructor Neil Mansfield), who wrote an essay explaining how the influence of oxyfuel cutting at sites like Ground Zero inspired her to want to be a Navy Seabee.
• Rudy Gonsalez, Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Lucedale, Miss. (instructor Joshua Pierce), who wrote about his observations on innovations and human creativity.
• Justin Clay, WEMOCO Career and Technology Center, Spencerport, N.Y. (instructor Filippe Rocha), whose essay focused on the inspiration he receives from his instructor and father (who is a welder and attended the same school) to make each weld better than the last.

The team winners are:

• Assabet Valley Regional Technical High School (students Mitchell Miller and Jesse Lemanski; instructors George Aziz and Chris Wittmier)
• Santa Fe College, Gainesville, Fla. (students Zachary Adams, James Moore, Matt Taylor, Matt Parrot, and Syson O’Brien Hall; instructor Joseph Mahoney)
• Highland High School, Gilbert, Ariz. (students Brett Eschliman, Matt Focht, Jack Daniel, and Zach Benn; instructor Curtis Willems).

Individual winners won a $250 cash prize for their winning essays. Members of the winning teams each won a $500 cash prize for their welding projects. All schools associated with the winners also won a cutting, welding, and gas control package valued at $4,000 each.

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