For Immediate Release
Contact: Daniel Wackershauser, Marketing and PR Specialist
Phone: 608.822.2303
Mail: 1800 Bronson Blvd., Fennimore, WI 53809
Date of Release: January 28, 2025
Collaboration brings mobile welding lab to high school students
Prairie du Chien -Southwest Wisconsin Technical College Business and Industry Services, 3M, ASTEC, and the Prairie du Chien School District joined forces to enhance learning. Recently, Prairie du Chien High School students had the opportunity to hone their welding skills inside the Southwest Tech Mobile Welding Lab, which was stationed at 3M.
Southwest Tech Business and Industry Services presented the event to ASTEC for funding assistance and to 3M to co-sponsor the event at its Prairie du Chien location. The current Wisconsin Innovation Grant (WIG) also helped fund this event. Students learned from Ed Anderson, Southwest Tech welding instructor, for a few hours on Jan. 24.

“We are always looking to get students involved the trades,” said Jason Knapp, plant engineering manager at 3M. “We hire a lot of mechanics, electricians, and for them to know how to weld is very important. We like to train our technicians on how to weld, and I think it’s important to show the younger generation what it’s like, what you can get into, the art of welding, so that they get excited about the field of electro-mechanical welding and the trades.”
Knapp is thankful that 3M can utilize the trailer. “It works out great for us,” he said. If it was not available, 3M would have to send its employees to La Crosse, Wisconsin or to Southwest Tech’s campus in Fennimore, Wisconsin, for training.
“We are finding that if we work together as manufacturers, we can do better things for our community, for our kids, get awareness out there of the trades and that helps all to be successful,” said Knapp.
Kim Graf, general manager at ASTEC, didn’t hesitate when she was asked to participate in the event. “This is such a great opportunity,” she said. “It’s so important to invest in our area youth. They are the future. When this opportunity came up to give the students the opportunity to explore welding as a potential career and educational path, it was great.”
The goal of the day was to allow students to explore welding as an option, according to Graf. “We have more than 100 employees at ASTEC and most are welders,” she said. “We continually strive to be an employer of choice and offer great careers in welding. Within the community and area, it is a very competitive market.”
Both Knapp and Graf agree that there are a wide variety of opportunities for students who have a background in welding.

As with 3M, ASTEC would have to require its employees to travel for welding training if the Southwest Tech Mobile Welding Lab wasn’t an option. “The trailer is great,” said Graf. “We have been a partner with Southwest Tech for many years. The trailer is a great opportunity to get out into the community.”
The students performed basics welding skills during their time in the lab. They did flat and horizontal welding using multi-process machines, according to Anderson. “We have some of the best technology, the best machines available and we can bring it wherever we need to take it,” he said.
According to Ron Kucko, technical education teacher at Prairie Du Chien High School, students can take two semesters of welding. The students, sophomores through seniors, who attended last week’s lab have completed one semester of welding and were starting the second semester. “You continue to give the kids the opportunity,” he said. “You don’t know what seeds you’re going to plant and what motivation you’re going to give them. If they have a positive experience with something, it could completely change their outlook on the direction they choose to go down for a career.”
“I think it’s pretty cool,” said Tyler Steiber, a senior at Prairie du Chien High School, who participated in the lab. “I like that it gives me the opportunity to create things out of metal.”
This project is supported, in whole or in part, by federal award number SLFRP0135 awarded to Southwest Wisconsin Technical College via the Wisconsin Workforce Innovation Grant Program by the U.S. Department of the Treasury.
| Southwest Wisconsin Technical College, is one of 16 institutions that comprise the Wisconsin Technical College System. The college was recently named a top 10 finalist for the Aspen Prize for Community College Excellence. Southwest Tech offers more than 60 programs in a wide variety of disciplines. Courses are offered on campus, online, HyFlex and in a blended format. The college provides apprenticeship, certificate, technical diploma, and associate degree programs that respond to district workforce needs and prepare student for family-sustaining jobs and career advancement. |