Juanita Johnson sums up enrolling in welding classes at South Georgia Technical College in Cordele as “a breeze” – after the hard decision of first just putting her foot in the door of the college.
When Johnson, 65, a great-grandmother, was laid off from her job in the textile industry, she became interested in welding as a skill after meeting welding instructor, Brenda Butler Gilliam. Johnson knew then she wanted to learn a skill that could help her gain employment.
Johnson knew that she had found a field that she wanted to pursue after seeing the South Georgia Tech welding program firsthand. Seeing the top-notch training facility and meeting the knowledgeable and helpful instructors sold her on the program right away. It didn’t hurt, either, when Johnson learned of the great demand for technical college-trained welders and the fact that jobs in the field offer good starting salaries.
“Juanita’s work ethics are great,” said Brenda Butler Gilliam. “I wish younger students would take her as an example. She’s always the first one here. She’s not afraid to ask questions, and she is a role model for other students. It is great to see someone her age that is so eager to learn.”
Johnson, who dropped out of high school at age 16 to get married, earned her GED in 2003 - 46 years later- at South Georgia’s Crisp County campus.
She says she loves all aspects of the welding program, including seeing her fellow students train for in-demand careers, but her favorite part is the hands-on experience of putting things together and bend testing.
Not wanting to “just sit down and grow old,” Johnson hopes that her enrollment in college classes – especially in a field considered nontraditional for women – will encourage others to return to college. She stands as an example of someone who has overlooked age and gender to pursue marketable skills for today’s job world. |
