Welding students see how skills learned could apply to future job
By Mark Hebert
November 30, 2023 - Caldwell Tanks Plant Manager Travis Mattingly walked through his company’s huge Louisville facility with 11 Pleasure Ridge Park High School juniors and seniors. As Mattingly led his tour group outside to show them the huge metal tanks and steel beams that make Caldwell’s products, he stopped and told the students he was once in their shoes.
“I was you all 30 years ago,” Mattingly told them. “I was just getting out of high school, looking for a job and I’ve now worked my way up to plant manager. You can do the same thing because if you want it bad enough, you can make it happen.”
Mattingly and two of his long-time employees were the tour guides for 66 PRP students in the school’s welding career pathway, part of the Academies of Louisville program. Caldwell Tanks and its sister company Preload are relatively new corporate partners for PRP’s program. The companies produce large metal and concrete water tanks and other storage solutions. About 400 employees work at their Louisville operation, including two 2023 graduates of PRP.
“This is a great opportunity for us and the students,” Mattingly said. “It gives us a chance to work with the kids who are interested in welding or machine operation and it gives the students a chance to see if it’s a career they might be interested in. What we’re hoping for is long-term employees who want to make a career out of it and retire here.”
Several of the PRP students said they are interested in possibly making a career out of welding or working in a machine shop. Juniors Scarlett Reynolds and Emma Bunny appreciated the opportunity to tour Caldwell/Preload and see how the lessons they’re learning in school can be applied in real life.
“I got to see what they actually do,” Reynolds said.
“We work with Flexcore (a type of welding process) and that’s what they work with here,” Bunny said.
Reynolds also said she would like to do a coop at Caldwell/Preload. That’s music to the plant manager’s ears. Caldwell/Preload is working with PRP welding teacher Dave McCoy to set up a coop program so students could earn a little money and gain valuable experience while they’re still in high school.
McCoy says it’s important for his students to have a look at what jobs are available in the career path they’re following at PRP. And it’s also important, he says, for students to make connections and tour with local employers.
“It’s important to us because they get to see three things: A company that has hired PRP students like them; an idea of whether they want to work at a place like this; and the support we have for our welding program at PRP.”