Midlands Technical College hosted the 2023 South Carolina High School Welding Skills Competition on Friday, February 24.

Held at the Airport Campus in the Welding Technologies Center, the competition featured 58 high school students from 15 high schools across the Palmetto State. Welding industry experts from around the Midlands judged student work in two categories: Fillets and Groove. The skills-based event tests young people against their peers to help prepare them for the competitive nature of the skilled-trades job market.

"The average age of the welder right now is 50-years-old and so with all of those individuals retiring, there's a huge demand for the newer individuals to get into this really lucrative career," Welding Program Director Caleb Fulwood told News 19 WLTX. "Competitions like this really help introduce the high school students to our industry and then we are that steppingstone for them into the industry, into that direction that they want to go."

Coverage from News 19 WLTX

Sparks fly at high school welding championship; The annual Midlands Tech welding competition kicked off Friday putting college students to the test.

Coverage from WACH Fox 57

MTC holds welding competition as the state struggles to fill shortages

2023 SC High School Wilding Skills Competition Results

Category 1 Fillets

Category 2: Groove