On Oct. 22, the CWB Welding Foundation awarded their new award ‘Forged by Youth’ (FBY) to Pontiac High School of Shawville (PHS). The PHS received first place and won a cash prize of $15,000.

The FBY award was also given to two other secondary schools who came in second and third; Rimbey Jr. Sr. High School, Rimbey, Alta., in second place received $10,000 and Crocus Plains Regional Secondary School, Brandon, Man., received $5,000 in third place.

“I think a lot of them just like the hands-on aspect of it. They’re very visual, kinesthetic learners, they like that break from sitting at a desk and they get to actually think outside the box and create their own creations,” said Megan Tubman, welding teacher at PHS.

After coming across the award in a CWB newsletter, Tubman knew she had to register her student’s project, and so she ended up submitting the application in late June on behalf of her students.

“The FBY Award celebrates the creativity and effort involved in secondary school welding projects,” said Susan Crowley, Executive Director, CWB Welding Foundation in a press release.

CWB is a nationally registered charity and relies on the support of industry and community organizations to address the welding skilled trade shortage in Canada. Through different programs and initiatives, the CWB tries to bridge the gap that impacts elementary, secondary, and post-secondary students, educators, Indigenous peoples, and women enabling them to enter and thrive in welding careers.

Eligible applicants for the award had to be full-time welding educators at a secondary school, and have a project that was completed in either the 2019-2020 or 2020-2021 school year.

The winning submission was a fire bowl project completed in 2019-2020 by 22 senior students. The students participated from start to finish on the project, meaning they did everything from brainstorming ideas, creating the shop drawings, job costing, cutting, and prepping, fitting and fabrication as well as welding.

The fire bowl is made up of 26 steel plates, and assembled like a puzzle, said Tubman. It’s made like a half dome and then each plate had an image on it. Tubman said the reason her students won was because of the “detailed amount of welding and fabrication” involved. “It was fairly complicated to assemble.”

Tubman, who started teaching at PHS in 2018, currently runs four welding courses; including grades seven and nine to eleven with approximately 60 students enrolled.

“We are going to use that money for good use,” said Tubman and added that they are planning on updating some equipment in their shop and possibly purchasing a CNC table for the students so they can learn to program the equipment and produce parts in house.

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