By ROWENA PLETT

Staff writer

Welding eight hours a day paid off for students at North Central Kansas Technical College, Beloit, last week.

Jeremy Hett, son of Donnie and Dawn Hett of Marion, was among several classmates who placed in a MIG welding competition at the school, earning third place.

MIG welding is a welding process in which an electric arc forms between a wire electrode and metals, which heats the metals, causing them to melt and join.

Hett is learning safe working practices, how to make quality welds, and how to produce quality cuts of carbon, stainless, and aluminum. He also is learning to produce drawings or blueprints and to construct products from blueprints.

He will graduate from the one-year program this spring but plans to go on for a second year to earn a degree in shop machinist.