By Neil Mansfield

Assabet Valley Vocational High School is a full time vocational technical school with students learning, preparing and planning on careers and higher education in several areas of both technical trades and related technical areas which includes:  nursing, graphic arts, digital media, technical drawing (draftsmen), machine shop, cosmetology, printing, auto tech/auto body, as well as all of the building trade areas which includes our program of Metal Fabrication / Welding.

Eight years ago, our metal fabrication program was tanked, stalled, sinking, and preparing to close its doors for good. At that time, I was a newly hired teacher and looking outward, upward and forward in any possible direction to improve our program.  Basically, it was survival.

CURRICULUM

I asked our school's leadership and advisory committee members to begin a creative blacksmith program proponent to our metal fabrication program. With the school’s approval, I needed a small amount of money ($2,000) to purchase equipment to include a forge, used anvils, used post vices and hand tools.  In addition, the school sent me and my fellow teacher to professional development training during our summers to learn blacksmithing, metallurgy, safety, welding, welding inspection, etc. This initiated our success and was start of reversing that downward spiral of our program.

COMMITMENT

I like to borrow the use of the naval statement, “It takes five miles to turn around an aircraft carrier,” and it also takes a few years to turn around a metal fabrication program. In our case, it took a large commitment, hard work, long hours and summers to make our program succeed.  In a short time, however, I could not believe my eyes when we witnessed our students becoming more creative, really having fun, and maintaining a strong passion in making their projects. It was like magic!

Blacksmithing has such a deep and rich heritage in our country’s history and still has a way of inspiring and shaping the next generation of young adults who are interested in metal working.  My hat is off to our school’s leadership for their support and to the local New England blacksmiths (N.E.B.) that helped me get our program jump-started.  N.E.B. played a large part in supporting, encouraging and mentoring our teachers and program. 

My Background

I include this because I feel it plays a large part in my success and in the success of this program.  I came from a family of union structural ironworkers from New York City and Philadelphia.  It was an honor to be a metal worker in my family. 

As a little boy, I grew up listening to my father, grandfather, and all of my uncles talk about erecting some of the greatest landmarks in our country, such as bridges, skyscrapers, and tunnels both in NYC and Philadelphia.  Some of these structures included the following:  George Washington Bridge, Triborough Bridge, Empire State Building, Pam- Am Building, Chrysler Building, Brooklyn Battery Tunnel, Verazano Narrows Bridge, Twin Towers, Delaware Memorial Bridge, and so many other bridges, tunnels and skyscrapers that have since escaped my memory.  Like my father, I too became a union ironworker in NYC and continued my family’s heritage. 

 
My teaching partner, Mark Chludenski, was a union boilermaker (folks that build power plants) from Massachusetts and, like me, his father and brother were both boilermakers. His family had a great sense of pride, craftsmanship, and above all, honored to be metal workers. As teachers, our similar backgrounds inspired us to get along very well together.  We both teach our students pride in welding and metal fabrication.

SAFETY

Our trade area, as well as other areas in our school or any other technical school in the country, can be inherently dangerous if safety is not followed.  However, safety is one of strongest taught lessons across the board in all of our programs with sound, mindful, and clearly understood personal protection along with instruction on how to work safely with others, both in school and upon graduation. 

During our summer professional development training, Assabet teachers are certified as OSHA (Occupational Safety and Health Administration) safety instructors.  We have not had any serious accidents in all the years of teaching.  This is largely due to a never ending emphasis on safety, safety, and more safety.

I have worked as an Ironworker, pipe welder, sheet metal worker and have been in many dangerous working conditions, but always remembered my own personal safety and safety for my fellow workers. I have never been injured in an accident in over 25 years of metal working.  

The backbone of success

The real “nuts and bolts” in how our blacksmith program got off the ground was largely due to a strong backing and support from our school's top leadership, starting with the school's superintendent, principal, vocational chairmen and, above all, the school’s level of commitment.

Also, we have a strong program advisory committee that meets several times a year after school. This committee is made up of professional men and women who are welders, sheet metal workers, blacksmiths, engineers, metallurgists, metal fabrication shop owners, welding salesmen, metal artists, and union apprenticeship teachers.  It's a great blend of metal workers.  

 

Our school's leadership is one that believes and is built on leading by example, working hard and letting their teachers succeed by allowing them to create and drive their programs with successful results.

The approach

Our teachers and students have made several presentations throughout the years to the evening meetings of Assabet school’s committee with our students both demonstrating their talents and presenting their views related to community service projects using blacksmithing, as well as how much they enjoy forging and creating functional and artistic metal art. At the end of the day, blacksmithing is a way for kids to have fun and make neat metal stuff to bring home to their families to admire and appreciate, while still learning about how to move metal and see what happens to metal when you heat it, form it, bend it, and weld it.

AN interesting blend

Blending technical skills with fun, our students learn the essentials of metal fabrication that include: blueprint reading, shop math, welding and sheet metal fabrication, which is mandated by the curriculum framework of the State of Massachusetts.  They also learn about the opportunities open to them beyond high school, whether it be furthering their education at a school such as Hobart Institute or going directly into the world of work.   However, our students have fun with hot metal along the way. 

I believe if you make your high school metal fabrication and welding programs fun and exciting, you can bring your students to the next level of learning by teaching them the art of technical skills, passion for learning, and essential skills to become successful in life. Our success has been built on good old-fashioned hard work, dedication, and a willingness to succeed. 

Neil Mansfield is Metal Fabrication Teacher at Assabet Valley Vocational High School and a graduate of the Combination Structural and Pipe Welding Program at Hobart Institute of Welding Technology.