Women take on welding in USU Moab’s training workshop

Women in Welding is a new workshop taught by USU Moab’s welding instructor, Chloe Wilson. The four-session course aims to involve women in a field where they are commonly underrepresented. 

“A lot of women in our community have reached out to me saying they’ve always been interested in welding,” Wilson said in a virtual interview. “This workshop is a really good way to get women involved and help hopefully make it less intimidating because there’s a female instructor.” 

While any woman can join the workshop, spaces filled up quickly, which Wilson attributed to the demand of women wanting to participate. 

“They’re going to be learning the basics of MIG welding,” Wilson said. “They’re going to be getting some basic tools and equipment orientation. You’re going to be learning the basics of fabrication, like basic measuring, dimensioning, cross squaring.” 

Metal inert gas welding, or MIG welding, is one of the most common welding processes. MIG welders feed a metal wire into a welding gun to melt it down. 

“Women can come learn a valuable skill that they can use and then also make friends,” Wilson said. “With my welding classes in general, my students have just formed a really cool group, and they have such a unique camaraderie.” 

Wilson said her personal experience has prepared her to teach the workshop. 

“It’s definitely made me more empathetic for women in this industry and given me insight into the issues that they face,” Wilson said. “It also just lets me do a job that I really enjoy and that I love, and it rarely feels like work.” 

Wilson’s love of creating different things as a child is what drew her to welding in the first place. 

“I’ve always enjoyed making stuff. I used to make dresses for my dolls and my sisters all the time. I made all my prom dresses and homecoming dresses,” Wilson said. “When I got to junior high and high school, I just wanted to explore creating with a different media, and welding sounded like a lot of fun.” 

Hailee Beckstrom is a student enrolled in technology classes, and she is involved in welding at the Moab campus. 

“My favorite part would be finishing the project,” Beckstrom said in an interview done over the phone. “You’re like, ‘Yep, I did that. That’s me.’” 

According to Beckstrom, there are many projects the students take on in their welding classes. 

“So far we have done kind of like a picture frame project to help teach us to square things,” Beckstrom said. “We are finishing some bike racks for one of the breweries in town.” 

Beckstrom said welding has given her value and skills she can use outside of the classroom. 

“I feel like my patience has gotten better. I wasn’t a very patient person. I feel like with welding, you have to be,” Beckstrom said. “Sometimes it can be frustrating and stuff. So you kind of just have to take a step back and calm down. Be patient with the thing you’re working on or something you’re struggling with.” 

Beckstrom had some advice for young girls who are considering going into welding but aren’t sure how to start. 

“Don’t give up, just keep doing it, because in this field, there are men that are Debbie Downers,” Beckstrom said. “You’re going to have people put you down, you just got to keep going. Pursue what you want to do.” 

Rachel Stenta is the technical education program coordinator for USU Moab who helps welding instructors by speaking with high school students for concurrent enrollment programs.  

“Anytime we have underrepresented groups, you know, our role as a university is to make sure that we’re reaching out to better serve those populations,” Stenta said in a virtual interview. “Women that might have hesitated before, like, ‘Is welding really for me?’ They see somebody like Chloe teaching it and go, ‘Hey, you know she’s doing it, so I can do it.’ There’s such a deficit in the technical trades.” 

According to Stenta, there will be three workshops with a total of 12 students. 

“But the response has been so overwhelming,” Stenta said. “Even more surprising that we’ve had such a response, we have 34 people on our waitlist. Without advertising. So the community is very excited for Women in Welding.” 

Stenta said anyone can join the welding certificate program in Moab without needing a high school diploma or GED. At USU Eastern, students can earn an associate degree in welding. 

“Some of the students on the degree side are using welding phlebotomy, some of our other tech classes as electives, which is fun because they get college credit for it and they pick up a skill.” 

The Women in Welding flier shows Rosie the Riveter, which according to Stenta is an important symbol from World War II because of the motto, “We Can Do It!” 

“I think that the main thing women are going to take away is that welding is for everybody and that they can do it,” Stenta said. “This is our first offering specific to training to get this underrepresented population into our program, but I think it’s definitely going to be consistent.” 

According to Stenta, USU Moab also recognizes that men are underrepresented in the health field. To counteract this, the school will be doing panel discussions to encourage men to consider the health fields. 

“From our presentations at the high school and interacting with our high school seniors and in the community, like women and students at the high school — we’ve just been amazed at the response of how excited women are about welding,” Stenta said. 

Jaimin Sadoff is a high school senior who decided to get involved in one of Chloe’s general welding courses. 

“I think it’s a very satisfying process,” Sadoff said in an interview conducted over the phone. “You start with just these little scraps of metal, and then at the end come out with like a really very polished, nicely put together thing. It’s a very satisfying kind of experience.” 

According to Sadoff, it is important to have women in the trades. 

“We notice a lot of detail and things and I think welding is actually a lot more like a detail-oriented process that most people assume,” Sadoff said. “It’s just cool to have a representation, you know, women can do things that are technically more male-oriented, and we can do them just as well.” 

According to Wilson, the skilled trades are generally a dying industry. 

“Within the next couple of years, it’s projected that we’re going to have a shortage of about 400,000 welders,” Wilson said. “The average welder in the U.S. right now is 55 years old. So they’re aging out of the industry really quickly. And I’m just grateful for the opportunity to bring more people into the industry, especially women because women account for five to ten percent of the professional welding industry.” 

Wilson said learning how to weld has helped her feel more financially secure. 

“I’ve seen a lot of financial success,” Wilson said. “Learning how to weld and going out and doing it has increased my income so much and increased my ability to provide for myself.” 

According to Wilson, there is a large gap between the number of women who want to go into the welding field and the number of women who do. 

“People are knocking down our door trying to get into these workshops,” Wilson said. “That’s what’s so important to me about these workshops, just bridging the gap.”