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Lebanon High students advance to state FFA contest as ag program highlights welding shop
Summary
Teachers and students at Lebanon High School described the school’s agricultural education program and its welding facilities, saying the welding team placed at districts and will advance to the state contest. Instructors said the program covers multiple trades and gives students hands-on skills before graduation.
Kate Rudolph, one of four agricultural teachers at Lebanon High School, said the school’s welding facility gives students early access to career skills and that the welding team recently placed at the district contest and will move on to the state competition.
"We have one of the nicest welding facilities in the high school that I think I've seen," Rudolph said, adding that students use the shop during and after school. "They are both in an ag power and ag fab class, and they're on the welding team for FFA." Rudolph said she graduated from Purdue University in 2023 and is in her second year teaching at Lebanon High School.
The program’s instructors said the agricultural curriculum covers a range of trades beyond welding, including plumbing, electricity and engines. Rudolph said the class has focused on engines this semester and that some of the work is preparation for the school's small-engines FFA contest.
"A lot of students had the misunderstanding that Ag Power is just welding," Rudolph said, describing how instructors review state standards and other trade areas with students. "We basically cover pretty much every trade that a student can go out into."
Students described practical reasons for choosing welding. Daniel, a Lebanon High School student, said he competes in soccer and track and that he chose welding to learn a trade in high school rather than pursue a post-graduate apprenticeship. "It's a trade that I feel like if I can learn during high school, it'll be saving me time in the future," he said.
Levi Pittman, a student who said he grew up on a farm and recently started an outdoor-work business, said he prefers hands-on work and hopes to pursue welding after high school. "I want to go into the trades for welding, and I prefer working with my hands rather than sitting and reading a book," Pittman said.
Rudolph said students use the shop both during class and for extracurricular practice; she said the team will continue practicing for state after placing in the district contest. Specific placement ranks and the date of the state contest were not specified in the remarks.
