NCC Welders Win in Two Statewide Competitions

Nash Community College hosted the American Welding Society (AWS) Tri-State Welding Competition Friday, April 25th. Ten students competed from Nash Community College, Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, Randolph Community College, Wake Technical Community College and Central Piedmont Community College. The three judges were Kevin Shaffer from Lincoln Electric, Frank Jablonski from Machine and Welding and Russell Warhman from Wake Technical Community College. NCC Welding student Justin Hinton of Momeyer (right) received first place and NCC Welding student Matthew Cooke (left) of Louisburg received second place.

At the 2012 AWS Tri-State Welding Competition which was held in Salisbury, NC at Rowan-Cabarrus Community College, Matthew Cooke placed first and Joseph Bateman of Zebulon placed seventh among the 23 students participating. In 2013, NCC students Jay Richardson, Matthew Cooke and Samantha Vick placed fourth at the AWS Tri-State Competition in Charlotte at Central Piedmont Community College. In order to compete, students must be members of AWS for Tri-State.

Cooke and Hinton also recently received first and fourth place respectively in the North Carolina SkillsUSA Welding Competition for the Post-Secondary category. Matthew Cooke will represent Nash Community College’s Welding program in Kansas City, Missouri in June at the National SkillsUSA Welding Competition.