Our Sites

Horseshoe pumpkins spark fundraiser for high school welders

Money will go toward buying welding jackets for 100-plus Houston-area students

For just about every high school welding program across the U.S., American Welding Society (AWS) certification training is of the utmost importance. And that’s especially true for one welding program in the greater Houston area.

Located in Dickinson, Texas – 37 miles south of Houston and 20 miles north of Galveston – Dickinson High School sits in the heart of Galveston Bay’s massive industrial coastal landscape with abundant petrochemical manufacturers and petroleum refineries. Dickinson’s welding program currently has more than 100 students testing their way through AWS certification with hopes of becoming a career welder on the sprawling Texas industrial coast.

“All the students here want to be welders,” said Dickinson High School welding instructor Craig Jones in a phone interview. “They all see their parents or relatives working at the refineries as welders. They want to get their hands dirty too.”

But with so much emphasis on AWS and being career-ready right out of high school, students can get burned out from nonstop testing for D1.1 Structural Welding Code – Steel, D9.1 Sheet Metal Welding Code, and various safety certifications.

“Everything we do revolves around AWS certification and finding them jobs,” Jones said. “So, I encourage them to do a fun project.”

Jones owns two horses and often brings in old horseshoes and other scrap metal from his home for students to experiment with. One of those fun projects turned into a vital fundraising venture for the welding program.

Two years ago, after one student welded horseshoes together and fabricated them to look like a pumpkin, a teacher offered to buy it on the spot in the Dickinson hallways. From there the pumpkin horseshoe fundraiser was born, with a purpose to help fund many of the disadvantaged students in the program.

“This is a predominantly poor area and students can't really afford materials to build things,” Jones said. According to a 2018 report from the Texas Education Agency, 64 percent of Dickinson Independent School District’s nearly 11,000 students were categorized as economically disadvantaged.

Since the Dickinson welding program can’t use allocated welding materials outside of AWS-affiliated testing, students and staff are on their own to provide materials for other projects. Jones’ scrap metal, as well as partnerships with Lincoln Electric Education (which offers welding rods for just $1 per pound) and other organizations help bring in free or affordable materials. But it takes a much more concerted effort to supply 100-plus welding students. And that’s where the pumpkin horseshoe fundraiser comes into play.

“The kids can buy their own materials out of the student funding,” said Jones. “And they’re self-sufficient. If there’s any equipment they need or want, they know what they have in their budget.”

Dickinson High School welding student welds a horseshoe pumpkin

A Dickinson High School welding student in Dickinson, Texas, welds horseshoes together into the shape of a pumpkin. The Dickinson welding program has started a fundraiser by selling to the horseshoe pumpkins to help fund other projects and raise money for equipment and materials. Dickinson ISD

Not only has this fundraising effort helped to buy materials for the horseshoe pumpkin project – different types of paint and metal pipe for the candle holders – it’s helped fund equipment for students. Last year they used extra funds to buy everyone a matching Dickinson High School welding program T-shirt. This year, though, the students have their sights set on something much more serviceable to their trade: welding jackets with each student’s name embroidered.

“That welding jacket will go a long way,” Jones said. “It’s something they’ll have until they graduate, and when they go out into the workforce, they’ll still have their jacket. They’ll take good care of them.”

And while the idea of raising enough funds to buy welding jackets for more than 100 students might seem too ambitious, the Dickinson welding program is up to the challenge.

The students have already received around 70 purchase orders for a horseshoe pumpkin and have been using every free moment they have – lunch periods, downtime during class, in between AWS training, even after school during the school’s welding club time slot – to fulfill orders before the end October. And they are so inundated that the program had to stop taking order requests.

“It's like an assembly line in here just to keep up with the demand,” Jones said. “We keep it moving. Everyone gets a chance to do it. You have one kid cutting pipe and the other kids grinding horseshoes, getting them prepped. Our main goal is to get them all done before Halloween.”

The project also has introduced other metal fabricating skills not usually covered in welding class, such as finishing. Jones and fellow welding instructor Ricky Cox helped set up a temporary painting booth with a paint gun to allow students to mix different paints and give each horseshoe pumpkin a unique look.

“They are actually learning different kinds of skills, like mixing different paints and using a paint gun,” Jones said. “And I have them all rotate so they are actually learning a little bit of everything as they're going along. I don't want them to be a master of one thing. I want them to be a kind of jack of all trades.”

And due to the popularity of the fundraiser, the pumpkins have even sparked interest for another horseshoe project and a collaboration with a Facebook group called Horseshoe Artist United.

Come springtime the Dickinson High School welding program will fabricate horseshoe crosses as part of a contest sponsored by Horseshoe Artist United member Paul Gaudet, who is renowned for creating elaborate horseshoe crosses that go for thousands of dollars. Each Dickinson welding student will fabricate their own horseshoe cross, and members from Horseshoe Artist United will vote on the best cross.

About the Author