When you enroll at Northland Pioneer College to learn welding, you\u2019ll build the foundation for awesome career opportunities for yourself. Welding is one of the top NPC programs in terms of graduates gaining employment, and now is a great time to train for the welding industry. Because the supply of quality welders is not meeting the current demand, employers will come looking for skilled welders like you when you complete your training.<\/p>\n
NPC has long been recognized as the go-to welding<\/b> institution among Arizona community colleges. For many\u00a0years, NPC has been setting the standard in Arizona for\u00a0welding instruction. It\u2019s also the go-to college for employers, who recognize the quality of the welders trained by expert NPC faculty. Earn your associate degree here, and you can go directly to work and set yourself up for
\na great career and life.<\/p>\n
The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics<\/i> reports that in\u00a0Arizona you can earn a salary in excess of $64,000<\/b> a year\u00a0as a welder. Some of our welding graduates are earning even more than that! As an expertly trained welder, you\u2019ll\u00a0find highly favorable employment prospects. Two out of every three jobs in the manufacturing sector are held by welders, brazers or solderers. Welding standards are Frank Pinnell<\/b>, Welding Department chair and faculty\u00a0at NPC, says, \u201cWhat sets our program apart is that our\u00a0instructors will not only teach you how to be a great welder, but they will also train you in \u2018soft skills,\u2019 giving\u00a0you the tools you need to present yourself in a professional\u00a0and articulate manner during your future job interviews\u00a0and throughout your career.\u201d<\/p>\n In just two short years, you can earn your associate degree in Welding at NPC, and there are even opportunities for students still in high school to get an early start.\u00a0Earning a degree will enable you to start your career at\u00a0a higher salary, will show you\u2019re committed to your craft\u00a0and will position you for future leadership opportunities.<\/p>\n You\u2019ll learn from an experienced faculty and study from National Center for Construction Education and\u00a0Research<\/i> (NCCER) textbooks, so you can gain the industry standard NCCER certification. You\u2019ll also gain Amer<\/i>ican Welding Society<\/i> certifications.<\/p>\n Pinnell says, \u201cThese credentials significantly<\/i> strengthen\u00a0the r\u00e9sum\u00e9s of NPC welding graduates and give you a\u00a0hiring edge over job candidates without them. You\u2019ll learn from hands-on experience in the welding lab and from NCCER textbooks, which prepare you to meet current industry standards in the workplace.\u201d<\/p>\n While you\u2019re learning welding skills, you\u2019ll also learn leadership skills by serving as \u201cclass foreman.\u201d You\u2019ll gain\u00a0confidence and poise by making presentations to the class\u00a0to prepare you for future job interviews and leadership roles. This is part of what will make you<\/i> stand out from other applicants who are applying for the job you want. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n You\u2019ll also get the opportunity to put your skills to the\u00a0test each year when you compete with fellow students in\u00a0regional and state welding skills competitions. Employers\u00a0attend the state and national competitions to scout for talent, and many of our students receive job offers to go straight to work upon graduation! Some have even been offered jobs in sought-after places like Hawaii.<\/p>\n All of our faculty are focused on making sure you get close, personal attention throughout your time in NPC\u2019s welding program \u2014 from long-time faculty to adjunct instructors and lab aides. Pinnell has taught at the St.\u00a0Johns Center for 16 years, training numerous men and women who are now leading successful welding careers. Randy Hoskins<\/b>, has been the instructor at the Show Low campus for 15 years, and Wesley King<\/b>, is now in\u00a0his fifth year of teaching at the Holbrook campus. NPC welding instruction is tried, tested and success-ful. Eighty-four percent of our graduates get hired\u00a0<\/b>for well-paying jobs!<\/b> Morning and afternoon programs\u00a0are available for high school students in the Northern Arizona Vocational Institute of Technology (NAVIT) program. Evening programs are available for adults.<\/p>\n In addition to the associate degree program, NPC also\u00a0offers the Certificate of Applied Science in Welding, which\u00a0requires 30 credit hours, as well as three different levels\u00a0of the Certificate of Proficiency in Welding: Entry Level I\u00a0(13 credit hours), Intermediate Level II (11 credit hours) and Advanced Welding Level III (21 credit hours).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n As an NPC welding student, you\u2019ll also have opportunities to contribute your skills to community service pro-jects. Most recently, NPC welding students created bus stop shelters for the City of Show Low, built steps for the Show Low Animal Shelter, refurbished a brush truck for\u00a0the Vernon Fire Department, built escape ladders to prevent birds and wildlife from drowning in stock tanks and more.<\/p>\n Pinnell says, \u201cWe\u2019re always looking for community service opportunities, and these were good welding projects to work on.\u201d Hoskins says, \u201cAs a community college, we like to help locally where we can. The students\u00a0who volunteer for these projects get a valuable, real-world opportunity to practice fabrication, learning skills that will help them in their careers.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n And don\u2019t be surprised if one of the many successful NPC welding graduates stops by the classroom to share\u00a0his or her expertise and job experience with you or serves\u00a0as your guide on a field trip to a fabricating company, as\u00a0Tommy Allen<\/b> did last fall at Schuff Steel, in Bellemont, Ariz. (see sidebar). The NPC welding program often invites\u00a0potential employers and graduates working in the field to\u00a0speak to current students and takes field trips to weld-ing industry companies.<\/p>\n All of these plusses explain why you should enroll in \u00a0NPC\u2019s welding program. You\u2019ll receive an affordable, quality<\/i> education that can help you transform your life. Speak to an academic adviser about how to get started.<\/p>\n Two highly respected Arizona industries know they are\u00a0gaining quality employees when they hire NPC welding graduates. CAID Industries<\/b>, of Tucson, and Superior Industries<\/b>, of Prescott, both value and seek NPC weld-ing graduates.<\/p>\n To meet the heavy demand for talented welders, CAID\u00a0Industries visited the college this spring to test and interview NPC welding students. Founded in 1947, CAID was\u00a0ranked as one of North America\u2019s top metal fabricators by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association Interna-<\/i>tional.<\/i> CAID provides precision machining services and\u00a0automation equipment for customers in the mining, energy, aerospace and healthcare industries.<\/p>\n The Tucson-based company has previously hired four NPC graduates, and Chad Malnar, a welding engineer at CAID, says they have all been regarded as \u201chighly skilled and productive welders.\u201d<\/p>\n This was the first year CAID Industries conducted\u00a0on-site testing at NPC, and it could potentially become an\u00a0annual event. \u201cCurrently the welding industry as a whole\u00a0is experiencing a lack of quality welders, and recruit-ment of younger, talented welders is becoming vital to sustaining our growing company,\u201d Malnar explains.<\/p>\n NPC has a long history of producing excellent welders,\u00a0so the NPC welding program was a natural recruiting destination for CAID. Malnar says, \u201cOne reason we came\u00a0up to test at NPC is because we know the college has a solid program, and because it is in a more rural area, which typically leads to a better work ethic. This is a quality which has become a difficult thing to find in younger welders,\u201d Malnar says.<\/p>\n Gavin McInelly<\/b>, an All-Arizona Academic Team member who earned an associate degree in welding at NPC in 2017, is one of the most recent welders to gain employment at CAID Industries.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n A second company, Superior Industries, is an industry\u00a0leader in dry bulk processing and handling equipment, fuel delivery and storage equipment and precast concrete\u00a0products. Elizabeth Knell, human resources director, says,\u00a0\u201cApplicants we\u2019ve interviewed or hired from NPC are well-rounded students and are clearly being prepared to\u00a0enter the workforce. This is evidenced by their good interview skills, well-thought-out questions and excellent r\u00e9sum\u00e9s. Superior has benefited specifically from the welding program at NPC due to the practical welding skills that we are looking for in a quality new hire, such\u00a0as print reading, knowledge of weld symbols, weld prep\u00a0and MIG welding [an arc welding process used to join two base materials together]. The result has been the NPC alumni currently working at Superior Indus-tries include past honor students Aaron Sherrill<\/b> and Kobe Paddock<\/b>.<\/p>\n NPC\u2019s welding program provided the perfect setting for Tommy Allen<\/b> to train for his successful career. He\u00a0earned an associate degree in welding in 2005, and now\u00a0he\u2019s in his 12th year as the team leader at Schuff Steel, in Bellemont, Ariz. \u201cWhat I love about NPC is that it\u2019s a\u00a0good place to better yourself. If I didn\u2019t have that training, I really don\u2019t know where I\u2019d be,\u201d he says. Last fall,\u00a0Allen gave a company tour to 12 current NPC welding students and encouraged them to pursue excellence in college training for their future careers. He keeps in touch with NPC welding instructors and helped them incorporate a training method that makes NPC students better candidates for jobs at Schuff Steel.<\/p>\n You just know someone is respected in their trade when\u00a0their story is featured in a college textbook! A 2002 graduate of the NPC welding program, Val Baumann\u2019s<\/b> story is prominently featured in the National Center for\u00a0Construction Education and Research<\/i> textbook used in\u00a0NPC welding classes. As a student here, he quickly demonstrated that he had the makings of a promising career in welding. He did so well in his first semester that he began assisting his fellow students as a lab aide in the second semester. Baumann further demonstrated his considerable skills by winning the state championship in\u00a0SkillsUSA welding and then by placing fifth in the national SkillsUSA competition. Professionally, he has worked as an adjunct instructor for NPC\u2019s welding pro-gram (2005-06), as a fabricator at JL Steel in Taylor and,\u00a0for the past 10 years, as a welder at the Arizona Public Service Cholla Power Plant in Joseph City. He says NPC\u2019s\u00a0welding program is \u201cdefinitely a good program that helps\u00a0people out.\u201d<\/p>\n Patrick Meza<\/b> is the son of NPC construction faculty Jorge Meza<\/b> and one of five Meza children to earn an associate degree at the college. He graduated in 2008 and now contracts as a pipeline welder with Western Industrial, working all over the Southwest U.S. He says,\u00a0\u201cNPC gave me a really good start and great welding knowledge. I love what I do, and working on pipelines is\u00a0the highest level you can reach, with the highest pay and\u00a0the highest level of responsibility.\u201d Meza lives in Show Low and enjoys visiting NPC\u2019s welding classroom from time to time to offer tips and inspiration to the current students. \u201cI do it every chance I get. I like to give demonstrations at the college and help the students as much as\u00a0I can. I give the students pep talks and tell them \u2018you can\u00a0make six figures in this business if you push yourself.\u2019\u201d Patrick\u2019s brother Jordan Meza<\/b> also earned an associate degree in welding at NPC and is now a welding\u00a0inspector in the Phoenix area. He has worked on some huge projects, including the Arizona State University football stadium and the Palo Verde Generating Station.<\/p>\n NPC\u2019s Welding Department in Show Low offers two innovative metal art classes that include\u00a0armor<\/b> and weaponry fabrica-<\/b>tion<\/b> and bronze casting<\/b>. These\u00a0classes focus on developing technical skills in black-smith forging, scrollwork, bending\u00a0and forming of sheet metal. Students learn how to work\u00a0with brass, copper, steel and iron to produce functional\u00a0objects. Instructor Howard Noble<\/b> (pictured above) has 36 years of experience in metal art, he\u2019s won\u00a0numerous honors at county, state and regional competitions and also appeared last year on The History Channel\u2019s \u201cForged In Fire\u201d<\/i> television program. Noble also sculpted and cast the new founders\u2019 monument for the City of Show Low two years ago, and some of his NPC students had the opportunity to participate in\u00a0that project to showcase the city\u2019s history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\nuniversal across industries and this flexibility will pre-sent you with a wide range of job opportunities.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n
\nAdjunct instructors Cyli Giesler<\/b>, Rick Stinnett<\/b>, Dale <\/b>Rencher<\/b> and William Tomkinson<\/b>, along with lab aides,\u00a0will also ensure you develop top-notch skills along the way.<\/p>\nEmployers Love NPC Welders!<\/h4>\n
\nhiring of safety-conscious, quality-minded and production-ready workers who are prepared to work directly in our manufacturing facility.\u201d<\/p>\nJust Some of NPC\u2019s Star Graduates<\/h4>\n
NPC Also Offers Metal Art!<\/h4>\n