Manufacturing and Welding Room Expands

The Westside Engineering and Technology department recently announced that a new expansion would be added on to the building, specifically for the welding and manufacturing department of the West wing in the school.

“The program was growing more and more, [and lots of students] were taking the Engineering and Technology courses.”  Welding and Woods teacher, John Bombac said when asked about why the department decided to expand. “We don’t ever want to tell a kid they can’t take [an engineering course]. We hit the point where we had no choice [but to expand the wing].”

The current expansion is focused on adding updated welding technology to the school, specifically TIG or “Gus Tungsten Arc Welding”, as well as bringing back machine tools into the classroom.

“We’re lacking TIG welding at Westside, and [with the help of the new expansion] we’ll finally be able to bring that in,” Bombac stated. “Working with mills, metal ways and sheet metal work – you’re not just going to [become] a skilled welder, you’ll come out a much more well-rounded student [than before].”

Bombac also hopes that the new expansion will help bring a spotlight to the West wing of the building.

“We’re not just about machine work and welding, we’re Engineering and Technology. We’ve got robotics, civil engineering, architecture – we do almost everything [in this space]. With the new expansion popping up, when you pull into the west parking lot, you’re going to know that this is the Engineering and Technology side of Westside High School – the name, the plate, we’re [going to have it all]. It’s gonna be awesome.”

When asked about when construction on the new expansion would begin, Bombac said that things were “still up in the air.”

“As of right now, according to our third party, [we will start] to break ground in early October, and they will hand over the keys to walk in early March. Again, take things with a grain of salt.”

As for what he was looking forward to in the new expansion, Bombac replied, “All of it. That’s why I chose this as my job. I just love it.”