Greetings from the campus of Arizona Western College in Yuma, Arizona!  It is with great excitement that I tell each of you about our 2004 Welders Without Borders event, held Friday October 22^nd.  This year’s program focused on the welding of titanium.  Our subject experts were the engineering and technical team from Hi-Tech Welding and Forming of California (www.hi-techwelding.com).  Mr. John C. Monsees, CMfgE and Mr. Dale R. Harrington, Materials Joining Engineer, and their technical team of weld experts presented the welding of titanium.  As part of this program, attendees had the opportunity to perform a weld on titanium using specialized pulsed GMAW equipment.

Working in coordination with us were Jay Miller, section leader for the American Welding Society Section 92 in San Diego California, and his students attending Palomar College; Mr. Daniel Barajas, Director of Tech Prep; and our program partners Victor/Thermadyne, technical managers from WestAir of Yuma, as well as our team of manufacturing experts representing the best names in welding technology such as Miller Electric Company and others.   Special thanks to the EXSA S.A. of Peru, South America for their material support at our college.  Invitations were also extended to all regional welding programs and their faculty, as well as regional welding companies.

This educational event has had many stakeholders who have made this program a success.  Those of you who have attended in the past know the impact you have made in the lives of the participating students.  This is an educational opportunity for students from around the region to come together with members of the welding industry for an event that celebrates our best qualities.  Government, industry and education working together showcase the importance of the welding industry to society, to touch lives and grow our future through service to youth. 

This is an educational event.  Those attending had the opportunity to interact with students, take photos, have fun, learn and network during the event along with participating in an informative program and enrichment opportunities.  Additional welding opportunities existed for the attendees to witness orbital welding and other types of equipment.

We thank Hi-Tech Welding and Forming for their willingness to present the theme for this year’s program and to provide material support for it.  We want to thank Marty Baker and the dedicated team at Hobart Institute of Welding Technology for their reporting of past events through their publication The World of Welding <http://www.welding.org/newsletters/fall2003/wwb.html>.  This year I was able to travel to the Hobart Institute and fulfill a dream of training there.  Like each of you, my career in welding began with a program such as this, influenced by someone like you.

On behalf of every one associated with the program and all our industry partners we thank you for supporting education in welding. 

Your friend and industry supporter,

Samuel Colton Sr.
Welding Technology
Technical Program Coordinator
Certified Welder/Member American Welding Society
Arizona Western College