Schlosser earns pipe welding certification

Van Wert independent/contributor content

Vantage Career Center’s welding senior Dylan Schlosser has a very bright future ahead of him.  His classmates saw history in the making on May 10 when Schlosser passed the American Welding Society (AWS) pipe welding certification test — the highest and most difficult AWS welding certification to achieve.

When Dylan arrived at Vantage in August 2009, he had never done stick welding before. His welding teacher, Brent Wright (Vantage graduate 1996), recalled that, on the first day of school, Dylan said to him, “I hear there’s money in pipe welding.  Can you do it?”

Wright answered that he had the certification, to which Schlosser answered: “Then you’re the man to teach me.”

The past two years, the Lincolnview senior has been working toward the pipe certification.

“Bar none, the pipe certification is the highest achievement a student could obtain in a high school welding program,” Wright said. “Dylan was very determined to achieve this milestone and he did it.”

“This has never been done before by a high school student,” said AWS Certified Welding Inspector Patrick Vogel. “To be so young and to have this skill and certification will have a huge impact on Dylan’s career. He will be able to go just about anywhere and get an outstanding job. He will be extremely well paid for his skills.”

”My grandpa and my dad were welders, so were my uncles,” Schlosser noted, adding, “And I wanted to be a welder too.”

He made the decision to enroll in Vantage’s welding program during Sophomore Visitation Day. When asked about the pipe certification test, he said, “It was hard, but other people had done it, so why couldn’t I?”