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Lackawanna County kids get to 'Weld-A-Saurus' this summer

A summer camp in Scranton is sparking an interest in trade skills in kids as young as 7th grade.

SCRANTON, Pa. — Inside the welding classroom at the Career Technology Center (CTC) of Lackawanna County, sparks are flying and kids are the ones running the machines. It's part of the summer Weld-A-Saurus welding camp.

Forty kids in seventh and eighth grades are learning welding skills to build a dinosaur. This program is meant to spark an interest in trade skills.

"The T-Rex that they're building is 30 pieces, so they have 30 pieces that is kind of like a Lego kit. You have your Lego, your blueprint and then we fuse it together with MIG welding," Kyle Linko, CTC of Lackawanna County welding instructor, said.

Some current and former CTC students are teaching the kids participating in the program. This is Christian Sedelnick's second year in welding camp. The eighth grader said trade skills are really important to know.

"Doing welding for your actual job or helping someone with putting together a car or chairs or this or that. I think it will come in handy throughout my life," Sedelnick, of Clarks Summit, said.

The welding students aren't just teaching these seventh and eighth graders. They're also teaching adults and switching roles as to who is in charge.

The adult welding class is new this year. The adults are taught a condensed version of the week-long kids camp.

"It's interesting because now it's like reverse roles. You get to listen to me and you're going to do what I say instead of being taught by an adult," CTC of Lackawanna County graduate Ariyana Linko said.

Linko said there is a great interest from people hoping to learn a skill that could help them with home projects.

"We show them how to set the machine up, what gas you need, the wire speed, the volts. A couple comments were 'I couldn't believe how technical welding really is'," Linko said.

There are still some spots available for the adult welding classes. More information on the class can be found here.

Our Weld-A-Saurus camp started this week and sparks are flying. Check back this week and next, to see the students completed dinosaurs! #weldasaurus #CTCPROUD

Posted by CTC of Lackawanna County on Tuesday, July 12, 2022

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