On September 9, Clark College hosted a free workshop for women interested in advanced manufacturing and the mechanical trades on the college’s main campus. More than 30 women attended the event, which included hands-on activities and tours of the college’s Automotive, Diesel, and Welding labs, as well as the chance to speak with professors.  

The following video, narrated by Interim Dean of Workforce Professional Technical Education & STEM, captures some of the excitement from the event as well as the motivation behind it. Properly trained  technicians are in high demand in the advanced manufacturing and mechanical industries, and these careers can be rewarding both financially and professionally. However, a recent study found that only 1 in 3 manufacturing professionals are women. 

Two $1,800 scholarships will be made available to students who attend this event and enroll in a Clark College Automotive, Diesel, or Welding program by fall 2022. One scholarship was made available by Madden Industrial Craftsmen, the other through an anonymous donor.  

See more photos from the event on the college’s Flickr site.

The Clark College welding technologies program is proud to announce its accreditation as an American Welding Society (AWS) testing center. This accreditation makes national certifications available to both students and professional welders in the region who are seeking to advance their careers.

Beginning May 1, Clark
will make a number of certifications available for testing. The most common is
the Certified Welder (CW), which tests welders on procedures used in the
structural steel, petroleum pipelines, sheet metal, and chemical refinery
welding industries. Certifications available include Steel, Stainless steel and
Aluminum. In conjunction with the AWS certification, Clark College also offers
the Washington Association Building Officials (WABO) welding certification at
the Clark facilities.

Fees for certifications
will start at $300, with more-complex testing requiring up to $600. All testing
will be completed at the Clark welding lab located on the main campus, at 1933
Ft. Vancouver Way in Building AA2. The college will provide all the needed
steel, stainless steel, and aluminum materials required for completing the
certification examination.

Professionals
interested in testing for either AWS or WABO certifications at Clark College
may contact welding faculty member Brian McVay at 360-992-2359 or bmcvay@clark.edu
to discuss their certification requirements, the costs, and testing schedules. For
more information about Clark College’s welding technologies program visit www.clark.edu/cc/welding.

“We are excited to be
able to serve our community by providing this unique testing, which will help
expand the opportunities for career advancement in the industry and support
this region’s economy,” said McVay, noting that the next-closest AWS Accredited
Testing Facility is in Tacoma, Washington.

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

The Clark College Automotive Technology department welcomes prospective students and their families to its annual Open House on Wednesday, February 20, from 6:00 p.m. to 8:00 p.m.

This
event is free and open to the public, though organizers ask guests to RSVP at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/clark-college-automotive-open-house-tickets-55283786293.
It takes place in the college’s automotive shop in Building AA-1 on Clark’s
main campus at 1933 Ft. Vancouver Way. The closest parking is in Orange Lot 1.
For maps and directs visit www.clark.edu/maps. Light refreshments will be served.

Guests will be able to tour the program’s 14,000 square-foot facility, meet with faculty and staff, connect with local dealership managers, and speak with professional technicians about career opportunities. They will also be able to learn about the college’s Dealer Ready programs, which allow students to earn income and work experience through internships during the course of their degree program.

About the Clark College Automotive Technology Department
With a program history that spans more than 40 years, Clark College’s Automotive Technology department has received community recognition for producing top-tier automotive technicians and for its focus on hands-on learning and partnerships with dealerships that include Toyota, Honda, Dick Hannah, and Audi.

This 14-foot skiff, which was built by Clark welding students in 2017, is being auctioned off to raise funds for the program’s 2018 student project.

For three months this spring, students from Clark College’s welding classes worked tirelessly to create a 14-foot aluminum skiff from scratch. Now the welding program is selling the skiff online to raise funds for future class projects.

As part of the college’s commitment to hands-on learning, welding students complete a completely functional welding project before graduation in the spring. Three years ago, it was a pressure vessel; last year, it was an aluminum skiff. That project proved so popular with students that Professor Caleb White decided to bring it back for 2017, albeit with many improvements over the original design.

This year’s boat is 14 feet long and features storage under each seat, an anchor locker, a drain plug, fore and aft tie-downs, handles for lifting the aft end, and a bow tie-down for anchoring to a trailer. The boat was tested this spring on Lake Lacamas and found to be completely sealed and usable.

“It’s a small boat that is versatile enough to be used on lakes or rivers, and is very stable for a boat of this size,” said White, who worked at Christensen Shipyards for a decade before coming to Clark to teach. “It doesn’t currently have an outboard motor, but it is designed to use up to a 25-horsepower outboard.”

Anyone interested in purchasing the boat may bid for it online at https://www.publicsurplus.com/sms/all,wa/auction/view?auc=1977227. Proceeds from the sale will go toward purchasing raw materials for the welding program’s 2018 spring project. Materials for this year’s boat cost approximately $1,500, and some 20 students contributed more than 1,000 hours of labor to complete it.

Photo: Clark College/Jenny Shadley

During his keynote speech at Clark College’s 2016 Advisory Breakfast, Vancouver businessman Don Brunell holds up a transistor radio to show how quickly technology can become obsolete.

Last Wednesday Clark College honored the more than 250 men and women from over 160 business and organizations who serve on the college’s 28 advisory boards for professional and technical programs. These industry professionals provide “real-world” guidance for Clark’s professional and technical programs to ensure students receive current, cutting-edge training to succeed in the workplace and enhance the regional workforce.

This year’s breakfast featured guest speaker Don Brunell, a partner at the Vancouver communications firm Brunell Creative. He is the retired president of the Association of Washington Business (AWB). Nationally, he has served as chair of the National Industrial Council for the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), the Conference of State Manufacturing Associations (COSMA), and the Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board under Governors Lowry, Locke and Gregoire. He currently serves on the boards of AAA-Washington, Forterra, Washington Business Week, Identity Clark County and WGU-Washington.

“It’s really important at the state level to have a connectivity with local community and technical colleges because this is really where the rubber meets the road,” said Brunell. “There are a lot of good things happening in Washington, and it’s because our community and technical colleges listen to the folks who are our customers.”

Brunell also emphasized the need for the community to serve as advisors to the college by participating in these committees, as well as to be good advisors to legislators.

“The advanced manufacturing center [at Clark] is a very important project to have in this county,” he added. “The [Clark College at Boschma Farms] north campus is where a lot of skills training will be. We need to have those types of investments here, or we will not be able to keep large businesses like WaferTech, SEH and Georgia Pacific here, along with the small businesses.”

Clark graduate April Gapsch.

The event also included speeches from April Gapsch, a Clark graduate and chair of the Business Medical Office Advisory Committee, and from current welding students Peter Smith and Pachino Palmore. All three speakers were able to attend Clark as a result of the Worker Retraining Program. Smith and Palmore will graduate in June.

“For many years, I had a dream of going to college, but didn’t think it was possible. Then I found myself in a unique situation, without a job or prospects,” said Gapsch. “The local workforce office referred me to Clark College and the Worker Retraining Program. I was enrolled the next day, and graduated with honors last summer. I was hired by Peace Health five months after graduation.”

Welding students Pachino Palmer and Peter Smith show off some of the work they’ve produced in their classroom.

Clark College offers more than 25 professional and technical education programs. Currently, 39 percent of credit-seeking students enrolled at Clark College are pursuing a degree or certificate in professional and technical education. In 2014-2015, 80 percent of students who completed a career and technical degree or certificate, or earned 45-plus college-level credits prior to leaving, were employed within nine months.

Clark College Advisory Committee members, who are appointed by the administration of a college, provide direction and specifications for current professional and technical education programs, and help identify emerging occupations and skills needed. For more information about the college’s advisory committees, visit www.clark.edu/advisory.

More photos from the event can be found on our Flickr page.

Photos: Clark College/Jenny Shadley