ESAB announces semifinalists in WeldItForward student contest

Artist Albert Paley (left) and Jesse James of West Coast Choppers fame (with microphone) helped ESAB announce the six semifinalist schools in its WeldItForward contest at FABTECH 2017.

With support from artist Albert Paley and Jesse James of "Monster Garage" fame, ESAB Welding & Cutting Products announced the six semifinalist schools in its WeldItForward contest at FABTECH® 2017.

The three secondary school semifinalists are Kutztown Area High School, Kutztown, Pa.; Maple Mountain High School, Spanish Fork, Utah; and Carroll County Career and Technology Center, Westminster, Md. The three postsecondary semifinalists are Pickens Technical College, Aurora, Colo.; San Bernardino Valley College, San Bernardino, Calif.; and Shawnee Community College, Equality, Ill.

These six schools will receive a welding and cutting equipment package from ESAB valued at more than $6,000. Using this equipment, teams of two to five students will create a fabricated metal project, with final submissions due March 9, 2018. Two winning schools, one secondary and one postsecondary, will receive a grand prize of $20,000 in ESAB equipment and filler metals. Every student involved on the winning team will receive an ESAB Sentinel® A50 autodarkening welding helmet and a $250 cash award.

Beginning next year, ESAB will post in-progress pictures from the semifinalists, as well as post an extensive photo gallery of their final projects, at www.esab.com/welditforward. The projects will be evaluated based on a combination of online public voting (75 percent) and a panel of judges (25 percent).