Date of Event: 03/07/2026
Location: Miami Lakes Educational Center and Technical College, Miami Lakes, Fla.
Number of Attendees: Almost 30
Presenter/Notable Guest(s): Chris Hale, a metals engineer from Florida and the artisan behind Colonial Metalworks (CMW), along with his colleague, Chris Faga
Event Summary: Hale, who masterfully combines engineering precision with creative craftsmanship to create unique sculptures and luxury furniture, kicked off the event by speaking with attendees in the welding program’s classroom, followed by a “Chaos Engineered” live art demonstration in the lab. Accompanied by his colleague, Faga, they used various processes and tools to turn scrap metal into a tiki sculpture holding a welding shield, wrapped in a gator, for attendees to see. The ArcCapture™ weld camera system from Miller Electric was in use as well.
The meeting included various raffles, with Frank Vargas from Uniweld Products serving as emcee. Garth Garrett won a lamp, donated by CMW; Debon Cumberland earned a welded dolphin, also donated by CMW; and Jakari Ashley got a Uniweld leather welding helmet. For attendees who donated $25 to the Section, a welding helmet with red, blue, and black graphics was raffled. That prize was won by Oscar A. Guerrero, the welding instructor at Miami Lakes Educational Center and Technical College, who opened the doors to the Section; he intends to put it to good use in their welding program. In addition, as the educators in attendance, Guerrero and James Scott, the applied welding technologies instructor at McFatter Technical College, Davie, Fla., received AWS Fundamentals of Welding books.
Section Chair Gilly Burrion organized the event. Participants included Evelyn Andino from the AWS Education Department, Kristin Campbell from the AWS Publications Department, welding students, and additional members/guests. A pizza lunch was enjoyed as well.
Note: Kristin attended this event and took handwritten notes, will probably add some more details while writing this recap for Section News.
