Laguna-Acoma Jr./Sr. High School – Helping Students Gain Practical Job Skills

LAGUNA, NM—The Grants Cibola County School system is paying attention to the vocational needs of students as well as their academic education. They go hand in hand. Ms. Seneca Natseway at Laguna- Acoma Jr./Sr. High School in Laguna teaches a popular course in welding. The skills students will acquire in the welding course can lead to certification and give them a head start toward their career goals.

Ms. Natseway teaches four levels of welding. In levels one through three they learn the basics of welding, such as how to create a bead and how to put two pieces of metal together. In Welding II they perfect those skills and learn a few more positions, such as flat welding, horizontal welding, and beginning vertical welding. The third level includes all four positions and advances to learning about technical skills: How to read a blueprint; how electricity works; and about business and entrepreneurship.

An important step toward their career goals is certification in safety procedures. In 1970 the Department of Labor and the U.S. Congress under President Richard Nixon passed the Occupational Safety and Health Act. This act of congress gives the Federal Government authority to regulate health and safety standards for our country’s work force.

Pieces of metal that have been welded together with beads. The students learn to make the beads.

There are two OSHA certifications that students can earn. They can start with OSHA 10 as freshman, which is advisable, and after that, OSHA 30. The two levels provide different career opportunities. OSHA 10 training “teaches basic safety and health information to entry-level workers in the construction and general industry. OSHA 30 training prepares supervisors and workers to avoid workplace safety and health risks.” The OSHA training is optional but may be required by some employers. (oshaeducationcenter. com) Another advantage is that if they can get certified while still in school, they can go right into the workforce after high school. Certifications to enter a welding job are not required, but it will help them get to a specific level. With skill in welding there are many ways that you can join the industry. Straight out of high school, if you haven’t even taken a welding class, there are certain jobs where you can learn on the job, like an apprenticeship. The downside of entering the field where you learn on the job is that it takes a little more time to move up in the industry. Taking classes in welding at a trade school to earn certifications will help.

“So, our goal is to be able to have them ready to enter the workforce,” stated Natseway, “what things that they learn here, and they will be certified, they will be able to carry on to the actual job.”

“Further education,” she continued, “say it's at CNM or someplace else, depends on their goal. So if their goal is to join the industry as an entry level worker they don't need certifications, they can learn on the job. They can take whatever information they have learned here and get an entry level job. Welding is not a trade, it's a skill set so it can be used in many industries. It can be used in manufacturing, the automotive industry, construction, there's many different types of jobs that they can get with welding skills.”

At LAHS the students are also offered metal working classes. In metal working classes the focus not on welding, but on the actual metal itself. To begin with they learn about basic metallurgy: what is a metal; what is structure of a metal; what happens to a metal at different temperatures and how it behaves. The course also covers what makes a metal unique, and about some of the characteristics, such as strength, ductility, how easy is it to work with, why some metals can't be welded with other metals, and the elemental makeup of a metal, are a few of the topics covered.

“It's really important for them to learn how metal behaves, why things happen the way they do, so that they're able to pick the correct metal for a project,” Natseway explained. “It’s also important for them to be able to understand some problems that can happen with metals. If a metal is under stress they know that if they apply heat to it, to a steel metal, for instance, that it is able to release some tension and some stress, and they are able to fix some problems that can happen with welding projects, or that can happen in the industry, or maintaining or repairing tools.”

Ms. Natseway’s own path to welding is an interesting story.

“At first, I didn't want to take welding, I always wanted to take a band class. They didn't offer it, so they put me in a welding class. It was something completely new to me, but I really liked it. And after that class I just kept taking it, all four years. I really liked it, and I went to get my associate degree in welding technology. With that I came back here and was able to come back to teach in this program that I got my start in.”

Natseway also recounted a trip some of her students, and others from GCCS, made to the Roundhouse in Santa Fe. CTE Day at the Roundhouse, January 27, 2024, was to advocate for more funding in support of CTE programs. At the state capitol the students met with legislators and senators to express their need for CTE programs and the opportunities they can bring students.

How did that turn out? “We're still waiting to hear back about the bills that were passed,” said Natseway. “The specific bill that they were advocating is to either provide or cut some funding for CTE programs. That is what we went for, and we're still waiting for the outcome of that bill.”

Another significant event for CTE students will be the Skills USA Conference this coming April 1113. The conference helps future professional with their career readiness.

It is clear that the Grants Cibola County Schools system provides many career opportunities for its students.