{"id":4648,"date":"2019-04-17T11:40:08","date_gmt":"2019-04-17T16:40:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dunwoody.edu\/news\/?p=4648"},"modified":"2019-05-17T14:11:54","modified_gmt":"2019-05-17T19:11:54","slug":"alex-mars-from-student-to-teacher","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dunwoody.edu\/news\/2019\/alex-mars-from-student-to-teacher\/","title":{"rendered":"Alex Mars: From student to teacher"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Alex
Alex Mars welds in her Lakeville shop.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Welding alum is sharing her knowledge with others<\/strong><\/h6>\n

For Alex Mars, graduating with a welding degree from Dunwoody opened up more opportunities than she ever imagined.<\/p>\n

A 2015 graduate, Mars is currently the manager at Toll Gas & Welding Supply in Lakeville, an employee-owned welding supply company. And as the shop\u2019s only employee, her responsibilities vary depending on the day.<\/p>\n

\"Alex
Alex Mars, a 2015 alumna of the Dunwoody College of Technology Welding program.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cMy daily role is essentially tech support for welding applications,\u201d Mars said. \u201cA lot of what I am doing is educating on welding processes and helping people select and obtain the tools and materials they need to weld.\u201d<\/p>\n

And just like her daily routine, the company\u2019s client base is also wide-ranging \u2013 from home hobbyist to pipeliner to sculpture artist.<\/p>\n

\u201cI help them understand the equipment used to do the welding and demos are a typical part of that process,\u201d Mars said. \u201cI also do one-on-one welding lessons as well as group classes of ten. The one-on-one lessons can go as in depth as desired. The group classes are typically \u2018Intro to TIG\u2019 or \u2018Intro to MIG,\u2019 and I co-teach with another instructor for large groups.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sharing her welding knowledge with others and exposing new people to the craft is something Mars has come to love.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year I planned and taught a Father’s Day Workshop \u2013 one of my favorite experiences,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Her position has also given her the opportunity to meet and network with other professionals. Through those connections, she has gotten to work on a variety of interesting welding projects as well use her skills to make artistic sculptures.<\/p>\n

\u201cThrough this outlet, I have had the opportunity to become a part of an art organization in Minneapolis called The Southside Battletrain, a part of the Mayday Parade affiliation,\u201d Mars said. \u201cWith this group we build things I have never imagined possible.\u201d<\/p>\n

Finding her path<\/strong><\/h6>\n

Welding wasn\u2019t what Mars had imagined doing after graduating from high school in 2010. She held a number of positions including manager of a restaurant, Nurse\u2019s Aide and Trained Medication Aide \u2013 none of which were what she wanted to do for the rest of her life.<\/p>\n

\"Alex
Alex Mars grinds a sign she created for her father in her Lakeville shop.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

So when she had the opportunity to try her hand at welding, Mars discovered it was something she enjoyed. That interest in welding prompted Mars to sign up for the welding program at Chart Industries. The program not only provided the training, it also paid the students a salary. But shortly after starting the program, Mars found out that because she couldn\u2019t pass the program\u2019s physical strength test, she wouldn\u2019t be allowed to continue.<\/p>\n

The next day, Mars walked into Dunwoody and enrolled in the welding program.<\/p>\n

Looking forward<\/strong><\/h6>\n

\u201cSince graduating from Dunwoody, I have allowed my journey to take alternative curves that brought me to realize what I enjoy most in my career,\u201d Mars said. \u201cIf I had not allowed myself to venture, I wouldn’t have reached the work that I feel passion for. Since leaving Dunwoody, I have gained confidence and learned my true value.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mars is grateful for the education and guidance she received at Dunwoody, especially from her instructors Denise Bailey and Mark Schwendeman.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel that having each of them at different times helped to equip me with a contrasting and complementary set of skills, I found balance in what each offered me,\u201d she said. \u201cI am grateful for their mentorship.\u201d<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a sentiment that others can now say about her.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love to advocate growth in any way and have found the structured teaching of welding to be greatly impactful \u2013 for myself and for those who I have shared knowledge with,\u201d Mars said. \u201cI stay excited and interested in welding because I feel that I am endlessly getting to know the metal I am working with and its behavior with the way I know how to manipulate it in various ways. I have recently begun learning to forge and it is deepening my knowledge of the character of metal. These skills all compound and build on each other and each thing you build has the potential to be more complex, or at least your process more efficient.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Alex
As the shop’s only employee, Mars says her days are always different. Some days she offers welding demos. Other days she does research for clients or keeps welders supplied with equipment and gear they need.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mars encourages others to explore a technical degree like she did. Learning an in-demand skill has helped her in more ways than one.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot to mention the way it feels to be highly skilled at something,\u201d she said. \u201cTo build things with your hands and to create something tangible, visual, physical \u2013 it has a profound feeling tied to it. To have a skill to endlessly refine and an element to tame and truly get to know. I have gained more confidence with myself through learning to weld than I ever imagined myself gaining. This confidence and power has carried over into every facet of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Welding alum is sharing her knowledge with others For Alex Mars, graduating with a welding degree from Dunwoody opened up more opportunities than she ever imagined. A 2015 graduate, Mars is currently the manager at Toll Gas & Welding Supply in Lakeville, an employee-owned welding supply company. And as the shop\u2019s only employee, her responsibilities […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":4653,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[178],"tags":[80,266],"class_list":["post-4648","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-student-news","tag-welding","tag-welding-technology"],"yoast_head":"\nAlex Mars: From student to teacher - Dunwoody College News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/dunwoody.edu\/news\/2019\/alex-mars-from-student-to-teacher\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Alex Mars: From student to teacher - Dunwoody College News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Welding alum is sharing her knowledge with others For Alex Mars, graduating with a welding degree from Dunwoody opened up more opportunities than she ever imagined. A 2015 graduate, Mars is currently the manager at Toll Gas & Welding Supply in Lakeville, an employee-owned welding supply company. 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