BWXT teams up with Posey County high school to enhance student welding program
Subscriber Benefit
As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe Now
Mt. Vernon High School students interested in pursuing welding careers can now receive training at the John D. Haynes School of Welding Technology thanks to a partnership with BWX Technologies in Posey County. Each year, up to 60 students gain skills at various levels to help them get a job after high school, potentially working for BWXT or other companies.
BWXT provides critical components and services to the United States government and commercial customers. In addition to Indiana, the company has locations in Ohio, Virginia, Tennessee, Canada and the U.K. About 500 employees work at the Mt. Vernon facility.
“There is a huge demand across industries in the U.S. for welding skill sets, especially in the maritime and U.S. Navy industrial base. If you want a job in welding, if you complete these courses, you’ll be primed for that,” said Nate Foote, general manager at BWXT in Mt. Vernon.
The welding program started in 2022 and was revamped in 2024 with monetary and instructional help from BWXT plus $500,000 from the U.S. Navy and BlueForge Alliance.
“We envision this program will provide a blueprint, spurring the creation of similar high school-based welding programs across the country to train the next generation of welders,” said BWXT CEO and president Rex Geveden in a news release.
Launching the program
When Brian Hagan became assistant superintendent at the Metropolitan School District of Mt. Vernon a few years ago, he suggested reviving the high school’s welding program to the school board. Greg Oeth, school board member and BWXT employee, set up a meeting between Hagan and BWXT leaders—including John Haynes, the school’s namesake who passed away in 2023.
“I pitched the welding program and what that could look like, and they ran with it and made it way better than I ever even anticipated,” said Hagan.
At first, Foote said BWXT planned to help the high school launch the welding school by providing a part-time instructor until a full-time instructor could be hired.
“The school district has a much harder time finding skilled tradespeople who can come work for them as full-time instructors and be able to afford them,” said Foote. “Eventually, we realized the best way to do this thing—and the most benefit for both organizations, BWXT and the school—was if I committed BWXT resources to be the full-time instructor for the program.”
BWXT leaders applied for funding after realizing the project’s scope was expanding and received money from the U.S. Navy and BlueForge Alliance.
“We got a handful of our employees there, and then we started building out the curriculum, and it became apparent to us that this was not going to be a short-lived arrangement. It wasn’t going to be a semester or two. When we offered it to students, we had way more interest than we were anticipating,” Foote said.
A premium trade school
BWXT and Mt. Vernon High School used the $500,000 investment to rebuild the welding lab and recraft the program’s curriculum to include American Welding Society training, Occupational Safety and Health Administration training and additional training to meet BWXT standards.
In the program, sophomores start at the Introductory level, juniors take classes to meet Indiana’s Graduation Pathways requirements and seniors enroll in Industry/BWXT courses.
“I like the environment. Everyone gets along in the class, and we all work together,” said junior Sophia Reese. “Everyone has the same interests in the class.”
“It’s more of a job and not just a normal classroom that we sit in,” added sophomore Eastin Hall. “We learn a lot more than just welding. We learn leadership and other things.”
“I’ll have the skills I need to follow instructions,” noted junior Logan Clowers. “That’s a big part. Be safe doing it. Be organized. Be neat and especially be able to work with others because we share a lot of the equipment.”
At the end of the program, students may start working for BWXT or receive further training from the company.
“The hope is that some of these kids will meet the competencies and show the ability to work at BWXT,” Hagan said. “But they also understand that not all kids are going to meet that because BWXT builds parts for nuclear submarines. They have a higher level of testing.”
Students may also seek welding jobs at other companies or apply for different roles altogether—without any debt from the training.
“If they don’t go to BWXT and work, they can work at other businesses in the community that need welders,” said Hagan. “And if they don’t decide to do welding, say they go into auto mechanics or something like that, this gives them a great foundation for doing that kind of work. Also, there’s welding involved in about anything. We have a lot of manufacturing businesses here, so they could use welders about anywhere.”
‘A pipeline for years to come’
After graduation, Foote said incoming welders at BWXT in Mt. Vernon could make $75,000 to $80,000 a year working on the nation’s most important defense activities. According to Hagan, the welding trainees will make just as much money as graduates from the top engineering schools in the U.S.
“Knowing our students are equipped for the next phase of life is the goal of every educator, and I’m so proud of the determination shown by our welding students in pursuing this advanced skill to prepare to enter the workforce,” said Mt. Vernon High School principal Scott Strieter in a news release.
The public-private partnership supporting the welding program will benefit the community in the short term and down the road.
“Knowing that a business like BWXT, an organization like the U.S. Navy or buildsubmarines.com and the school are all investing in creating programs like this will help the community flourish and build a pipeline for years to come where students can come out of the local community and into industry,” Foote said. “The longest-tenured employees and our employees that have the most staying power or the best attitudes of working here are the ones that grew up here.”
BWXT is also considering welding partnerships with other schools and alliances in other fields.
“I need machinists. I need engineers. I need QC inspectors. I need all sorts of different disciplines. In the future, we’re likely to need additive manufacturing and metallurgists and different things like that we don’t often look at today. There’s a lot of opportunity,” said Foote.