'College in High School' Program Puts North Hills Students on Fast Track to Welding Career

North Hills Senoir High School students will have the opportunity to fast track their career path while earning tuition-free college course credits next school year from the Community College of Allegheny County.

According to the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, the new welding program opportunity is part of the district's "College in High School" program for students in 10th through 12th grades.

Students who take all three of the welding courses offered can earn a total of nine college credits from CCAC and will also have completed half of the courses required for the community college's welding-certification program, the Trib reports.

Matt Demharter, metal-technologies instructor at the high school, told the Trib that there is a demand for people who know the trade and that welding certifications can lead to jobs working on railroads or gas lines or in the boiler-maker and steamfitting industries. 

Students who take the three courses at North Hills will be eligible to take two American Welding Society certification tests upon high school graduation and will have the welding and fabrication skills necessary to enter the work force in an entry-level position, the Trib reports. 

“There's a growing trend, especially in western Pennsylvania, for a need of very specialized-trained individuals in welding,” Matt Demharter, metal-technologies instructor at North Hills Senior High, told the Trib. 

Students must complete all three courses in high school for the opportunity to earn college credits. Those who continue the program at CCAC will prepare to earn the higher-level welding certification.

Gretchen Mullin-Sawicki, dean of academic affairs at CCAC's North Campus in McCandless, told the Trib that students looking to earn the college course credits from CCAC must take at least one for-credit course at the community college after high school graduation.

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