Corpus Christi students test their skills in Del Mar College's first welding competition

Sparks flew Friday morning at Del Mar College as local high school and college students tested their welding skills during the college's first welding competition.

Devyn Rios, a junior at AC Jones High School in Beeville, has participated in several welding competitions in the past.

"This one seemed a little bit bigger," she said. "It all seemed pretty natural, just like every competition we've been to, but it was a good competition. There's a lot of people to compete with. It was really fun."

Seventeen high schools participated in the first Día De Los Muertos Welding Competition, along with post-secondary programs such as Del Mar College, Craft Training Center of the Coastal Bend and South Texas Vocational Technical Institute. Close to 110 participants competed throughout the day.

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"We actually didn't think it was going to be this big," assistant professor of welding applied technology and organizer Samuel Garcia said.

Devyn Rios has participated in school welding programs since her freshman year, but she's been welding since she was 10. She's thought about welding after high school, though right now she's planning on pursuing veterinary science.

She picked up the craft from her father, Jason Rios, who has a welding company. At home, she has made outdoor furniture, lawn art and gifts for her mother.

"I love it actually," Jason Rios said of his daughter being involved in welding. "There's not a whole lot of women welders. ... It's sad because women are more natural at it than men. They have a more steady hand than men."

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None of the participants knew what materials or position they'd be welding ahead of time. Many of the high school students worked on plate shielded metal arc welding, while some of the advanced high school students and the post-secondary students worked on pipe.

"That's a big difference from other competitions," Garcia said. "This was a true test of their skill and confidence."

The welding was tested using industry standards, Garcia said, similar to what a prospective welder would complete when trying out for a job.

Work that the judges determined was good enough to make it to the finalist stage was tested using shear wave ultrasonic technology, which checks for inconsistencies and flaws in the weld.

"It was pretty fun," competitor Eric Luna, a senior at Ray High School, said.

Luna welded in the pipe division.

"Pipe takes a lot more skill," Luna said. "It's a bit of mixture of all of positions."

Both Luna and another competitor, King High School junior Rylan Villarreal, are considering making a career out of welding.

"I wanted to learn a little bit of all of the trades," Villarreal said, explaining that he'd also looked into electrical and automobile work. "But welding's really kind of caught me. I want to keep doing that."

In addition to the competition, Del Mar invited industry groups to set up booths to share information about their companies with students and competitors. In the future, the college would like to include a division for professional welders as well.

"One of the big things is we were trying to have as much industry as possible," DMC welding coordinator Jose Cortez said. "We have companies like Turner, CUST-O-FAB, Ohmstede that are here and they're witnessing what the potential workforce is going to be like. Hopefully they can coach and recruit some of our students and get them hired."