National Welding Month spotlights Kennedy Secondary instructor, student training

Dennis Wutzke is teaching Kennedy Secondary School students the basics of welding with a bigger goal in mind: getting them certified for jobs that pay, stay local and fill a trade that employers still need.

At a time when National Welding Month marked its 30th year, Wutzke’s classroom in Fergus Falls put a local face on a national workforce issue. The American Welding Society has recognized April as National Welding Month since 1996, using the observance to spotlight welding’s role in bridges, buildings, energy, transportation and advanced manufacturing.

The pay and openings help explain why the trade matters in Otter Tail County. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics said welders, cutters, solderers and brazers earned a median annual wage of $51,000 in May 2024. The bureau also projects about 45,600 openings a year on average from 2024 to 2034, mostly because workers retire or move into other occupations. Nationally, there were 424,040 people in those jobs in May 2024.

That workforce demand gives Wutzke’s instruction real stakes for students such as Cassie Burrell and Jeff Drake, who are learning the fundamentals needed to move toward certification. In a district that Fergus Falls Public Schools says serves about 2,500 students in west-central Minnesota, a hands-on program can have an outsized effect. It can give teens a route into a trade without leaving the region, and it can send employers a steady stream of workers who know how to handle fabrication, repair and other shop-floor tasks.

The local connection is not abstract. BTD Manufacturing in Detroit Lakes, part of Otter Tail Corporation’s footprint, does metal fabrication, including welding and assembly, and employs about 1,000 people. That makes welding a direct fit for regional manufacturing, and it also points to the kind of steady industrial work that can keep young people in west-central Minnesota after graduation.

Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development says its Employment Outlook tool tracks one-year and 10-year projections by occupation and industry, while its Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics tool helps employers, job seekers and students compare careers and wages. For Kennedy Secondary students, that data lines up with what Wutzke is teaching in the shop: welding is not just a class, it is a pathway into a trade that still has clear demand, solid pay and a place in Otter Tail County’s economy.