Central Carolina Technical College welding student places first at welding skills competition
Sumter, SC (04/03/2023) — Central Carolina Technical College advanced pipe welding student Harrison Rickard placed first in the 2023 South Carolina SkillsUSA Welding Competition.
Harrison was tasked with completing two separate welding projects within four hours. These projects involved performing welds using processes such as shielded metal arc welding, gas metal arc welding, flux cored arc welding and gas tungsten arc welding.
"The South Carolina SkillsUSA Welding Competition was a great test for me to learn how to perform well under stress while also conforming to time constraints," says Harrison. "I enjoyed the challenge it presented and look forward to testing my skills again at the national level."
Harrison started his welding career at CCTC in fall 2021. He graduated at the top of his class from the basic structural welding program in the summer of 2022 and continued his welding career at CCTC where he is now enrolled in the advanced pipe welding program. He will represent South Carolina in the individual welding category at the National SkillsUSA Welding Competition this June in Atlanta, Georgia.
"The welding competition prepares students to work under pressure, complete tasks in a strict time frame and apply the skills they learned in the welding program," says CCTC pipe welding instructor Lucas Bishop. "We are extremely proud of the performance of Harrison Rickard during this year's South Carolina SkillsUSA Welding Competition and we look forward to competing in June at nationals."
CCTC's nationally recognized welding program prepares students for careers as welding engineers, sales engineers, manufacturing engineers, application engineers, project engineers and managers. To learn more about CCTC's welding program, contact Alex Reis at (803) 778-7863 or visit cctech.edu.
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