I am pursuing the welding trade. I am passionate about welding because my grandfather showed me when i was a young boy how to build horseshoe art and from there it piqued my interest. I also go alot of my passion through the technical course offered at my highschool, learning the different processes and techniques made me become extremely interested in this career as a path. After my trade education I plan on finding a structural welding job traveling around the country to find myself and a place that interests me to live in. I have also considered trying for a pipeline or oil field job because i enjoy getting my hands dirty as well as welding with SMAW (stick welding). During my first two years of highschool I played varsity football. My freshman year during the first game I played in i dislocated my knee causing me to tear a ligament in my knee. This was at the beginning of my highschool career and was very heartbreaking to have happen. However throughout the rest of the season I rehabbed and eventually got surgery to fix the torn ligament. The following year I was rehabilitating my knee for my sophomore year of football working out five days a week and after those workouts going to physical therapy twice a week for an hour and a half of rehab. This benefited me throughout my sophomore season until I dislocated my knee again the first playoff practice of the season. This was even more devastating then the one the year prior. I had came all this way and there in an instant was set back to square one. I consulted my doctors who told me I had retorn that ligament that they had fixed and would need another surgery. This surgery involved knee reconstruction and I was 15 at the time. I made the decision to not continue football due to the adverse health affects of this surgery. However instead of giving up on my outdoor life I went back to physical therapy to rehabilitate myself so I could continue my hobbies of hunting, fishing, and riding dirtbikes. This was hard though because I had hopes of playing college football and potentially NFL. To work through this I found alternative activities to fill in the void that football left in my life. I also relied alot on my faith to guide me through these tough times of accepting that I would never play football again. Even though that time in my life was hard I look back and realize how much it has helped me overcome adversity and hard times whether on the job or in life.

Devren Anderson 2860 S Slate Creek Way Meridian Idaho, 83642 dandersr@gmail.com My Grandpa was the first one to introduce me to welding. He did this by showing me how to weld horseshoes to make different items like napkin holders, candle holders, coat hangers, etc. This sparked my interest into welding to the point where every time I was over there, we were in the shop welding and figuring out different things we can do with horseshoes. I started off just watching him weld these horseshoes together and once I was old enough, he would show me how to weld effectively without many mistakes or inconsistencies. I enjoyed welding enough with my grandpa that I enrolled in a local 4-H program for welding. In this program, we started with learning how to stick weld 7018 and 6011. We would run beads upon beads to master and understand how each electrode flows and what settings are needed for that electrode. Once we had beads that our instructor approved of, we got to start on our project. This involved taking a disc off a piece of farm equipment, horseshoes, and some angle iron. Once the materials were cleaned from any dirt or debris, we welded these pieces into a boot scraper. This intrigued me more because the process to build this was not easy and there were plenty of challenges, however, I enjoyed learning and overcoming these challenges. This made me start thinking about doing this for a career in the future since I was enjoying doing it so far. Once I got into high school, I enrolled in a welding Career Technical Education program (CTE). I started my junior year where I learned stick, MIG, Oxy/fuel, and TIG. Throughout learning these different processes, I decided that in the future I wanted to do mainly MIG and Stick welding. Throughout that year I finally made my decision to pursue welding as a career. I started putting more effort into class time practicing and learning the welding processes, and outside of school watching YouTube videos on different welds as well as different careers that involve welding. This brings me to 2022, I am working part-time manufacturing and welding semi-trailers for Western Trailers. I enjoy being in a job that allows me to practice the skills I have been learning through school. This field is one of the most crucial parts of society since it is the fabric of our society’s infrastructure. Welders every year are retiring and there are not enough people coming in to replace them, which makes welding even more needed because without knowledgeable people in those positions our infrastructure and society will crumble. Not only would our energy infrastructure fail so would the automobile, construction, and even the food industry because each of those rely on welders to be successful. With my welding education, I plan to work in either the construction industry or as a combination welder repairing equipment and installing various items for a company. Once established, my goal is to have my own welding company providing services to businesses that need welders to help them complete a project. This scholarship money will help me work toward getting my associate of applied science with welding certifications. Thank you for your time and consideration for this scholarship.