We've been using the GTAW DVDs that I ordered last summer - they are fantastic!  We were hoping for materials good enough to stand alone for the "theory" part of our self-paced evening program.  We finally found them.  These materials have improved our night school program immensely!  They are a great review tool for our traditional daytime program.  We are so pleased with the quality of these DVDs.  There is a lot of low quality material out there - it's a huge relief to have this stuff.  I also want to thank you for such excellent customer service.  We will be looking for additional materials this summer.  Thank You.

~ Veronica Hope, Welding Instructor, Northcentral Technical College, Wausau, Wisconsin

This is a great magazine.  I’m a pipefitter for Local 716 Plumbers & Pipefitters.  I have been welding for eight years and I always learn something new from your magazine.  Thank you! 

~ John Connors, Maine

THE FOLLOWING LETTER IS A FOLLOW-UP TO THE ARTICLE FROM SPRING 2005, PG. 17, “HOBART INSTITUTE ALUMNUS HEADS FESTIVAL.”

I want to take just a moment and share with you Steve's [Emmel’s] exciting news.  35 years ago, Ted Terbeek was Steve's best man at our wedding.  I believe Ted was an instructor at Hobart Welding School when Steve was a student there.  Ted later moved to California and ties were broken.  It has been more than 20 years since Steve and Ted had spoken with each other. 

While reading The World of Welding in California, Ted came across the article on Steve and called him.  They have swapped email addresses and would like to make plans for us to visit them while we are traveling at some point in time.  You never know what the results are when an article is written.  Thanks to you, a friendship has been revived.         

~ Patti Emmel

A WELDER’S CRY FOR PEACE

When I look at CNN international news and I see what is happening all over the world, I feel a lot of pain in my heart.  First, it was September 11^th World Trade Center, then the war in Iraq, and what hurts me the most is the Russian school bombing.  Every day innocent people become victims of war on terror, and yet we continue to make war tanks, guns, and other weapons of mass destruction.  The majority of these weapons are made of steel; so therefore, the art of welding contributes to the making of these weapons.

I wonder if there was no steel in the world, welding would not have existed, and there would not have been skyscrapers, weapons, planes, etc.  There is good and there is bad—man is creator of his own destruction and it is time for us to ease the war and increase the peace.  My heart goes out to the children of the world.

If only we could weld peace and love on the hearts of the terrorists, then the world would be a better place in which to live. I believe there is a God and he knows and sees all things.  He will be the judge.                                                                                                                      

~ Respectfully submitted, Alan Stuart Williams, West Indies

A MESSAGE TO LEGISLATORS

As each elected legislative official sits on his welded office chair and gives consideration to further budget cuts in the vocational and technical programs, he and his professional colleagues should reflect on the influence these programs have on the American society.

 Without technical education, one could not sail across the ocean or travel into its deepest depths; one could not ride in a car, truck, bus, or train; or place a satellite into deepest space or fly across these United States.  Without technical education, we would not have the breathtaking skyscrapers or bridges that span the rivers and bays of this land.  Without technical education, who would build the pipelines, power plants, and factories that we depend upon?

Without technical education, one could not build the chemical and processing plants that provide food and drugs that diminish the pain and suffering.  Who would build the tractors, harvesters, and equipment to bring in the grain to feed our nation? 

With technical education, we train the workforce of today and tomorrow so that we, as Americans, can continue to consider ourselves the most advanced national in the world.  This education should commence while students are in high school, thus giving them every opportunity to thrive in a technical arena of their choice.  Almost every product we need to sustain and protect our lives is built with manufactured equipment that has technical education components. 

Technical training transcends most every faction of the American way of life.  It encompasses training in computer technology, auto service and repair, elements of engineering and architecture, business and marketing services, construction trades, cosmetology, digital electronics, early childhood education, food industry, heath careers, interactive media, and welding.  Success favors the prepared mind.  Technical education prepares the American student for success in the world in which we live. 

As each elected official ponders what to do regarding funding of technical programs, please consider the aforementioned concerns.  These young persons in technical programs deserve your consideration in the choices you make toward funding the programs that train these students who will help maintain America as the most advanced nation in the world.  Each of us, as Americans, depends upon it.

~ Ed Wyatt, Instructor, Bernard K. McKenzie Career Center, Indianapolis, IN