“Teaching skilled trades is about far more than teaching welding. It is about helping young people discover what they are capable of achieving through persistence and craftsmanship.“

Tyson Smith teaches welding and agricultural mechanics at Payette High School in Payette, Idaho. Growing up in the shop with his father, a diesel mechanic, and his grandfather, working with his hands was a way of life from an early age. Inspired by his own high school agriculture teachers, Smith pursued a career in education, earning his Bachelor of Science in Agricultural Education from the University of Idaho. A veteran trades educator with decades of dedicated service, he returned to his alma mater to teach in the community that raised him. He previously served as an adjunct welding instructor at Treasure Valley Community College and has maintained his American Welding Society Certified Welding Inspector (CWI) credential for over a decade.

Inside the shop, Smith blends digital technology with traditional craftsmanship to prepare students for demanding trade careers. Students gain rigorous, hands-on experience across multiple welding processes, including OAW, SMAW, GMAW, FCAW, and GTAW. Learners master blueprint reading, welding symbols, sheet metal toolbox fabrication, and modern digital tools such as CAD software for CNC plasma cutting, laser engraving, and 3D printing. Through cornerstone assignments like the metal rose project, students cut, shape, weld, and apply powder coat or torch finishes to custom metalwork, transforming early mistakes into precision and pride.

 

Notes of Excellence

  • Business & Industry Alignment: Kemper Northwest and Superior Industrial Refrigeration actively review student work, provide feedback on fabrication standards, and hire program graduates directly into the trade workforce.
  • Key Program Impact: Approximately 90% of welding pathway completers achieve proficiency on Idaho’s Technical Skills Assessment (compared to the ~50% state average), and each year’s class of roughly 60 students earns more than 400 AWS certifications.
  • Outstanding Student Project: Through iterative design, problem-solving, and blueprint refinement, one of Smith’s agricultural mechanics students engineered a custom rotating welding stand to address practical shop needs, ultimately mastering industry-standard craftsmanship and leading peer instruction on the build.