The Mobile Section wants to express their sincere “thank you” to Miller Electric for sponsoring their January meeting.
Jody Heusman, Section Chairman, welcomed everyone to the meeting and made a couple of announcements. There were 35 in attendance.
Immediately following announcements, Mike Skiles, District 9 Director recognized some of the Mobile Section distinguished members for their service to the welding Industry. Awards were presented to Mike Magazzu for District CWI of the Year, Matthew Orr, Educator of the Year Private Sector and Benjamin Wise Educator of the Year Public Sector, and both Scottie Smith and George K. Crenshaw for District Instructor(s) of the Year. Additionally, Derrick Lett was awarded a District Meritorious award for the year. Congratulations to all of these individuals for their time and dedication to the welding industry and the American Welding Society.
Before turning the meeting over to the guest speaker for the evening, Clay Byron, Section Treasurer, gave a brief presentation and instructions on how to apply for AWS scholarships online using the AWS web portal.
Ryan O’Dell, Industrial District Manager for Miller Electric, then gave a presentation on augmented reality welding. Ryan shared with attendees Miller Electrics efforts in assisting with furthering the training and education of our next generation of welders. He provided a live demonstration of the equipment and detailed descriptions of how it is being used in both the classroom and industry today. Students were able to test their skills by trying the weld simulation equipment. Special prizes were awarded to students with the highest scores, 1st place went to Shaughn McCormick and 2nd place to Brett Dabbs.
Speaker Ryan O’dell speaks to attendees at the Mobile Section January meeting on augmented reality welding and the need for trained welders.
Brett Dabbs and Shaughn McCormick
(L to R) Benjamin Wise, Scottie Smith, Matthew Orr, Michael Skiles, Jody Heusman, Derrick Lett, Mike Magazzu, George K. Crenshaw