By Myra Bean

Cade Picket is like other seniors this time of year, trying to decide what to do after graduation.

Though he has worked and planned throughout his high school years, the South Panola Career and Tech student recently received an offer which made him think twice about his plans.

Pickett and his teammates Jandon Taylor and Trace Anderson, placed second in the state Welding Fabrication category. From that showing at state, Pickett received two job offers for pipeline work – one in west Texas and the other in North Dakota.

Both were lucrative offers with starting salaries well above that of average college graduates.

Though they were tempting, Pickett said he will not be taking them. He wants to go to lineman school at Mississippi Delta Community College. That’s fine with his mother, BJH assistant principal Rachel PIckett, who was worried those jobs were too far away.

Pickett said he got involved in welding after listening to his baseball teammates talk about welding his freshman year. He dropped baseball and got involved with the welding team. His second year, they won district and placed third in the state.

Because students can only take welding classes for two years, this past year he became a teacher assistant and was able to compete again. The team placed first in district.

For state competition they made a pop-up shooting target using stick and mig welding materials.

Stick is a rod that is heated and melted into plate, Pickett explained. Mig has a wire and gas. Thin wire is fed from a dispensing gun and gas lets with wire.

“The mig is actually easier than the stick. The mig is just you hold the trigger down and it welds,” Pickett said. “Welding is fun to look at but it is like a different animal when you are under the hood.”

Welding satisfies his desire to work outside, Pickett said.

“I feel like that I get to see a whole bunch of different sceneries even though I am doing the same thing every day,” he said.

Cutline:   Cade Pickett