David Price Metal and EHOVE partnership benefits all

topey@sanduskyregister.comNORWALKWhen Matt Lund graduates this spring, he will leave with more than just a high school diploma.He has learned hands-on welding skills and has a strong chance at a full-time job from his employer, David Price Metal Services, where he is an intern.He is graduating from the Industrial Tech program at EHOVE Career Center.EHOVE Career Center and David Price Metal Services Inc. have a long history of working together.Lund, a senior, and Ron Roesch, a 1972 graduate of one of the first EHOVE classes, walk the same factory floor at David Price Metal Services.The factory offers laser and plasma cutting, machining, metal fabrication, welding and other services to build machines or parts for customers. The company and its employees often build equipment using the latest technology, said Shawn Culp, human resources manager for David Price Metal Services, Inc.Culp challenges the stereotype that factory jobs are nothing but routine."Our fabricators use math, such as trigonometry, that is far and above what the average person knows," Culp said.He understands parents want their kids to go into professional careers, but factories are not what they used to be."It is safe. It is clean. In a lot of jobs, you never get to see your work from start to finish. Here it starts as a block of steel and by the end of the day, it is a completed project for a customer," Culp said.There are 26 EHOVE graduates, including four who are part of management, working today at the shop. Traditionally, many EHOVE alumni have found jobs and sometimes a career at David Price Metal Services.Vocational schools, such as EHOVE, Lorain County Community College or Terra Community College, ensure students leave with the basics to walk into an industrial job.In Ohio, there are 120,357 career tech students — 22 percent of all graduates, according to the Ohio Department of Education.Lund knew higher education was not his path in life. He did not want to go into the family business of farming.He did not want to go $60,000 in debt to go to college."I refuse to go to college. I did not really like school so I was not a big fan of four more years," Lund said.EHOVE, and its Industrial Tech program, provided him a hands on course of study in various forms of welding that could lead him to a solid good paying industry looking for employees. "I have learned so much here," Lund said about the factory.Milt Cantrill is the shop foreman. "You can make a good living doing this," Caritrill said.Cantrill said Lund would be a good employee because he has proven he wants to work, is there every day and understands what the work ethic is."I like building things with my hands," Ron Roesch, a 22-year employee said — and that includes his house. Roesch said he also was never destined to go to college. EHOVE was a better option for him."It is a great relationship. Over the years the students who have come here have been successful," said Matt Ehrhardt, assistant director of EHOVE Career Center.David Price Metal Services also accepts interns and hires from Lorain County Community College and Terra Community College. Employees who went to EHOVE, however, make up the majority of its workforce.Shawn Culp, human resource manager at David Price Metal Services in Norwalk, talks about the importance of vocational schools such as EHOVE and why his company strives to hire their graduates. Burl Dellinger of Monroeville works on a job at David Price Metal Services in Norwalk on Tuesday afternoon. Dellinger was a graduate of the EHOVE Industrial Tech program in 1974. EHOVE Industrial Tech student Matt Lund heats up welds on a job at David Price Metal Services on Tuesday. Lund will graduate this spring from the vocational school.