Welding Students Gain Experience Through Real-world Projects

Students in Olney Central College’s Welding Program are gaining real-world experience through projects that are benefiting not only the college, but the community.

Instructor Curtis Marshall said students spent numerous hours this semester on the fabrication of two new batting cages for the OCC Baseball team. Baseball Coach Phil Britton received an OCC Foundation mini grant to help fund the updates and requested Marshall’s assistance with the project.

“It has been a great opportunity for the students,” Marshall said. “They got to work on the pipe welding and making sure everything was within a sixteenth of an inch tolerance. It’s skills they will need as they enter the workforce.”

The work also included capping the pipe ends and calculating the angle best suited for the cable height to ensure the netting will not sag.

Among the students working on the project is Brett Kocher, who is also a member of the OCC Baseball team.

“Brett and another student, Shawn Yonaka, have gone above and beyond, staying late and helping to finish this project,” Marshall added.

The work is nearing competition and Marshall expects the batting cages to be in place early next year. In the meantime, students will be designing and using the Welding program’s Plasma Cutter to create lettering for the side posts that will read Blue Knights Baseball. Students will then weld the letters to the posts, which will face the athletic apartments.

“I’m very excited about how the batting cages are turning out,” Marshall said. “They are going to be a big improvement for the OCC Baseball Department. It is going to make that side of the field look so much better.”

This is the latest in many improvement projects the Welding Program has assisted in completing.

Earlier this year, Marshall said Fair Board Member Eric Pitts approached him about refurbishing the bent motorcycle drop gate at the Richland County Fairgrounds. The project included cutting the 50-foot gate in half so it could be sleeved and pinned, allowing the apparatus to be unfolded and opened in two pieces.

“We made it to where it was operational again,” Marshall added.