Welding together a new program
In 2012, New Berlin West introduced a DUO enrollment program that allowed the 33 students enrolled, to have a chance to prepare for their college life. The students leave at precisely 9:42 a.m. and drive to WCTC, returning around 2:45 p.m. to 3 p.m. each day. The program teaches students welding, thermal cutting (using flames to cut metals), metal fabrication (building machinery), and how to read and make blue prints.
The first year of the DUO program is paid for by the school. After the first year however, students are required to pay for the classes themselves if they wish to continue their college career. Daniel Flieger helped to describe an entire week within the program.
Mondays the students meet in the welding lab at 10:15 a.m. to go over what is planned for the day. They then go downstairs to the welding booths and start working on what they are doing whether it’s pipe welding, plugs welding or welding a Bernie or triangle to a T-joint. At 12:15 p.m. the students go to lunch and then return to their work until 2:30 p.m.
The first classes on Tuesdays and Wednesdays consist of blue printing. Tuesdays are spent listening to a lecture, reading a section from the book, and then receiving an assignment. Wednesdays are spent as work days to work on the homework received the previous day. Once finished, the students go straight into welding.
On Thursdays there is thermal cutting. The students meet in the same lab as the welding and then go to the class room where the professor asks questions to see what was learned. The students then go downstairs for a demonstration.
The students end the week with metal fabrications on Friday. The students basically bend metal all day after receiving a short lecture.
Although the students who enrolled have different opinions about the program, one student, Tim Stolowski, is especially fond of it, “I think it’s a great opportunity that was offered to me. It gives me a great head start for my future.”