“This is something I really, really want to do,” said Baker High School sophomore Courtney Hutton, as she worked in the welding shop at Bryant Career Technical School in Irvington. Hutton was among 20 eighth- and ninth-grade girls at the third annual “Girls Can” camp at Bryant, learning welding, engineering, electrical wiring, carpentry and pipe fitting. It was Hutton’s second time at camp. She enjoyed the welding sessions so much that she has signed up for dual enrollment courses at Bryant this fall, which means she’ll be earning college credit while still in high school. “I want to do it for a career,” she said. Bryant instructor Glenn Lowery praised her work on the tungsten inert gas torch, which requires the welder to use both hands and have a great deal of patience, not to mention fine-motor skills. It’s particularly intricate work, Lowery said. “You’ve got to know what you’re doing.” The campers wore protective equipment, including heavy gloves, jackets, goggles, helmets and earplugs. They got creative with the metal plates they used to practice welding; many created Father’s Day plaques, complete with Alabama or Auburn insignia.

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