Miller Announces Welding Contest Winners
Daymon Gast, Codey Underwood and Dalton Van win prizes.
Posted: May 23, 2019
Miller Electric Mfg. LLC (Appleton, WI) announced the winner of their “Who’s Building You?” contest: Daymon Gast, a certified welding instructor and SkillsUSA advisor at Lincoln-Way Central High School (New Lenox, IL) won the final public vote, receiving more than 75 percent of the votes registered for the three finalists. He was nominated by a former student, Codey Underwood. They will both receive prize packages with a combined value of more than $30,000, including an AugmentedArc® welding system for Gast, and a Multimatic® 215 multiprocess welder for Underwood.
Gast, who organizes and hosts a district-wide welding competition each year, is looking forward to adding the new system to his classroom. “I am excited for my students to utilize the augmented reality welding system for its capability of instant feedback on work and travel angle, electrode manipulation, travel speed and arc gap,” he said. “The fact that this system can generate a custom report for the individual student in MIG, TIG and stick is going to be very helpful.” Underwood, a 2018 graduate of Lincoln-Way Central High School, is now a first-year apprentice with Chicago Pipefitters Local 597. He said Gast has a passion for helping his students succeed. “He was my welding instructor for three years and I can say without a doubt that he made welding my favorite and most meaningful class while at Lincoln-Way,” Underwood wrote in his winning essay. “Mr. Gast saw something in me that others did not, and he taught me how to persevere and to be successful at work. For this I am thankful.”
“It’s exciting to honor two such deserving people and help them along in their respective careers,” said Jessica Marhefke of Welding Education and Workforce Development at Miller. “If Daymon and Codey are any indication, the future of the welding industry is in good hands. And our company is proud to be a part of it.”
Dalton Van, a senior at Union High School (Roosevelt, UT) is the winner of the $5,000 Weld-Mask™ Scholarship Sweepstakes. After purchasing a Weld-Mask compact auto-darkening lens and submitting his entry form, he was randomly selected to receive a $5,000 scholarship toward his welding education. Already a skilled welder, he has been taking night welding classes at UBTech since his sophomore year. Van represented UBTech at the National Leadership and Skill Conference (SkillsUSA) in Louisville, KY, where he earned a silver medal in the welding competition. He also qualified for the 2019 national competition this June and will graduate this spring with both a high school diploma and a 990 advanced welding certificate from UBTech. He plans to attend Utah State University Eastern to study welding engineering. “This is why the scholarship means so much to me,” he said. “I don’t know that I could afford secondary schooling without the help of scholarships.”
“We take great pride in helping build people, especially students, who are the welders of tomorrow,” stated Marhefke. “We’re very pleased to reward such a hardworking young student and help contribute to his future education and career.”
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