WSHS Welding Classroom
By Valerie Sliker
For a small a small, rural high school, Wagener-Salley offers a tremendous amount of different types of classes to its students. We especially have a great selection of CATE (Career and Technology Education) classes such as cosmetology, building and construction, JROTC and welding. All of Aiken County schools still have the welding program, but only Wagener-Salley and South Aiken have welding class hosted inside the school perimeter. The other schools' students travel to a career and technology center for lab work. New this year, Ridge Spring Monetta students will also come to WSHS for lab work.
Unfortunately, the school can't place as many students as they'd like into the programs. Sometimes students just have too many schedule conflicts, but for some of the students, the fees associated with CATE classes present a real problem, fees for consumables that are used in the classroom. Those are costs that some of our parents cannot afford so they don't enroll their children despite having the option of a payment plan. The school and community is calling out for business owners, faith-based organizations and other folks to make some donations that will allow more students to participate in the CATE classes.
The community ultimately benefits when we get more students into these classes because the students then go out into the world with skills that will allow them to earn a living wage or a wage that will support them during college years. Obtaining a high school diploma is not enough anymore and we must do whatever we can as a school and community to make sure our children have a vision for the future.
Contact WSHS Principal Ute Aadland or Assistant Principal James Arnold, Jr. for more information.
