Date of Event: 03/21/2026
Location: New Industries, Inc., 6032 Railroad Ave, Morgan City, LA 70380
Number of Attendees: 53 students in competition with 100+ attendees including multiple co-sponsors
Presenter/Notable Guest(s): Dr. Joshua Burgess, AWS President – Presented Scholarship on behalf of District 9 and spoke to attendees.
Anthony Blakeney – AWS District 9 Director- Presented District 9 Scholarship
Denis Talbot – AWS Morgan City Section Chairman – Presented Section scholarships and prizes
Joey Rentrop – AWS Morgan City Section Treasurer – Presented prizes
Conrad Benoit – AWS Morgan City Section Secretary – served as a testing monitor and judge
Bill New – New Industries, Inc. , CEO / President and AWS lifetime member – hosted the event.
James Stewart – New Industries, Inc., Vice President – Coordinated and facilitated the event
Cate Koen – New Industries, Inc. , Administrative Assistant – Organized e event and awarded prizes
Event Summary: The event was the 3rd annual St. Mary Parish High School Welding Competition that has been organized and hosted by New Industries Inc. / Honiron. The competition was enthusiastically supported and co-sponsored by the following: St. Mary Parish School District, AWS Morgan City Section, Lincoln Electric, Conrad Shipyard, Bayou Testers and X-Ray Services, Red-D-Arc, Quality Tools and Services, Donovan Controls, Bishop Lifting Rentals, Shannon Hardware.
The student competitors represented 6 high schools in St. Mary Parish: Morgan City High School, Patterson High School, Berwick High School, Centerville High School, Franklin High School and West St. Mary High School.
Competition Winners were awarded prizes provided co-sponsors, including scholarships offered by AWS District 9 for $1,000 and AWS Morgan City Section offered and additional $1,000 to the Grand Champion, Logan Bailey. The AWS President, Dr. Joshua Burgess presented the awards and spoke on behalf of AWS and commended the students competing and all of those supporting the event.
The competitors were tested on SMAW and / or FCAW on plate with backing based on time to complete and acceptance by visual and NDE (MT and UT).
The AWS Morgan City Section will be donating $500 for the welding program for the Champion High School winner, Patterson High School and also offered $500 scholarships to the 1st place winners and will issue gift cards for welding supplies and PPE to the 2nd and 3rd place winners.
Additionally, there was a friendly school administrator welding competition with the winner being Charla Young. The AWS Morgan City Section provided AWS merchandise to the participants.
