JOHNSBURG – Grinning, 18-year-old Emilie Walz showed off a weld bead just outside the welding shop at Johnsburg High School.

“You just do little circles close together, and it will melt into one giant puddle,” she said. “You’ll see it glowing red.

“Once it’s cooled down, you go straight across to that anvil thing in the middle of the shop, and you hit it multiple times because there’s a coating all over it and you have to get it off. Then you go to the water wheel polish it up, and it looks so nice and pretty.”