Welder turned teacher prepares students for bright, stable future by Spencer Griffin
University of Arkansas Community College at Morrilton (UACCM) welding instructor Zack Freeman has spent most of his adult life surrounded by the torch. In fact, Freeman has 21 years of experience in the welding industry alone, and fiveand-a-half more as an instructor at UACCM. Freeman began his career journey in victorious fashion. While in the welding program at Russellville Vo-Tech Center in May of 2000, between his junior and senior year of high school, Freeman won a welding competition. Little did he know the victories would not stop there. Among the judges was an owner of Cooling and Applied Technology (C.A.T.), who, after the competition, offered Freeman a part-time job. Freeman would later work multiple welding jobs in Fort Smith and Russellville, becoming experienced in gas tungsten arc welding (GTAW), gas metal arc welding (GMAW), flux core arc welding (FCAW), and shielded metal arc welding (SMAW). This allowed him to become well-rounded in his welding career. O*NET describes the welding occupation as such:
54 | Career Watch Arkansas
Welders, Cutters, Solderers, and Brazers "Use hand-welding, flame-cutting, hand-soldering, or brazing equipment to weld or join metal components or to fill holes, indentations, or seams of fabricated metal products." O*NET also describes tasks that are related to the occupation: (These are just
five of the 30 tasks listed on O*NET.To see more tasks, visit www.onetonline.org.)
• Weld components in flat, vertical, or overhead positions. • Operate safety equipment and use safe work habits. • Examine workpieces for defects and measure workpieces with straightedges or templates to ensure conformance with specifications. • Recognize, set up, and operate hand and power tools common to the welding trade, such as shielded metal arc and gas metal arc welding equipment. • Weld separately or in combination, using aluminum, stainless steel, cast iron, and other alloys. After his many jobs, it was time for the college life for Freeman. “I entered college at the age of 27,” he says. “I felt that I needed to pursue a degree in order to advance within the company.
