CHS Welding Instructor Jeff Owings receives Industry Certification

Welding instructor, Jeff Owings and the Chattooga High School Welding program
has received its Industry Certification. This credentialing is performed by the
Construction Education Foundation of Georgia, otherwise known as CEFGA.
CEFGA leads the process of program evaluation to ensure that individual programs
meet industry standards in the areas of equipment, teacher qualification, lab
specifications, curriculum and industry.

Kenny Adkins from CEFGA was on hand at Thursday’s Board of Education meeting to present the Industry Certification banner and award to Mr. Owings.

Owings told AllOnGeorgia the process for the industry certification took around eighteen months from start to finish. He first had to get certified as an instructor then complete the steps for the program to receive its certification.

Owings and Adkins with banner that will hang in welding classroom

“I’m about anything that will better our students, school and image,” Owings said.

Jeff Owings has been the welding instructor at Chattooga for 27 years and is a 1980 graduate of Chattooga High School. When he started teaching he had only 35 students, now his class size is around 150, since that first year he has trained hundreds of students how to weld, giving them a skill set that can produce a job and nice income as soon as they graduate high school.

Now with the addition of the Industry Certification, Owings will be providing CHS welding students with a welding education that is nationally recognized by industry standards.

For Owings he says that after so many years in education what motivates him is “seeing the kids achieve something and knowing they are from a map dot and they get out and compete on a local, regional, state, national and international level and knowing they can compete anywhere they go. They can speak the welding language anywhere they go.  That’s what keeps me going.”

CEFGA is the largest NCCER Accredited Training Organization in the state, with more than 70 accredited training and education facilities throughout Georgia. More than 7,000 high school students receive NCCER training each year in our accredited programs throughout the state