PANGBURN — John Reed, a welding instructor at the Arkansas State University-Beebe Searcy campus, said Garrett Holloway is one of the best students he’s ever taught. So it’s no surprise that Holloway got a full ride to welding school.
Holloway, a senior at Pangburn High School, won a $15,000 scholarship to the Arkansas Elite Welding Academy in Bee Branch, during a skills competition Feb. 16.
“I started welding my ninth-grade year in my agri class at school,” Holloway said. “My junior year, I started going to ASU-Beebe Searcy and welding there. I just got good at it. That is how it got started.”
Reed, who has been teaching welding since 1985, said Holloway is a top-notch student and young man.
“He’s always on time, and he uses his time wisely,” Reed said. “He’s really good about helping other students. He is what I call the cream of the crop. I’ve been doing this since 1985, teaching welding. He’s one of the top ones I’ve ever had coming up.”
Holloway said he had an interest in welding because of his father, who would weld when Garrett was growing up.
“He would never let me try it, but I used to always like to watch my dad weld,” Holloway said.
Holloway said he’s working on different types of welds.
“A lot of it is structural-welding-type tests, to get certified to weld on skyscrapers, or piping tests for pipeline-type things,” he said.
Winning the competition at the Elite Welding Academy was big for Holloway.
“It was awesome,” he said. “Going there to that school and seeing how many people I had to compete against was great. Finding out three days later that I had won was an awesome feeling.”
During the competition, students had to read off a blueprint and put together what Holloway called a T-joint.
“Then we had a certain order of welds we had to make,” he said.
Reed said he wasn’t surprised by the success that Holloway had.
“I really expected him to do well,” Reed said. “Every moment he had, he was working on that, the competition, as far as knowing what was going to happen there.”
Reed said Holloway will compete in the SkillsUSA competition in Hot Springs on April 8-9.
“They’ll have welding students from throughout the state competing in this contest,” Reed said. “There will be a pipe-welding contest and structural welding. Garrett is going to do the pipe welding. That is what he wants to do. I feel like he’ll succeed in that just like everything else he’s done.”
Reed said Holloway is so good because of his hand-to-eye coordination.
“You can show him how to do a task, and he just does it,” Reed said. “He can do it so much faster than any other students because his hand-to-eye coordination is so good. He’s got the drive to do it. That’s what he plans on doing for a career once he graduates high school.
“I feel like he’ll succeed in that, just like everything else he’s done. The main thing about him is that he’s always on time, and he’s actively helping other students who need help. He’ll show them pointers and different things like that. He’s something else. He’s a heck of a good guy.”
Staff writer Mark Buffalo can be reached at (501) 399-3676 or mbuffalo@arkansasonline.com.