With his final year welding at PRHS, senior Kayden Castro has spent his free time working hard for his certification of welding through the PRHS welding pathway and night classes through Cuesta College.
Watching his grandfather work from a young age is what really influenced Castro to go into welding and repairing. His grandfather who worked on a ranch for 50 years allowed him to grow up around the repairing business. After years of watching his grandpa work on his ranch, in 8th grade, Castro started taking welding classes to learn the basics. This led to him taking Intro to welding his freshman year in 2022.
For Castro’s repair jobs, he welds mild steel, stainless, aluminum, touch titanium, and cast iron. According to Vern Lewis Welding supply, aluminum and cast iron are some of the most difficult medals to weld. Aluminum being so difficult because of it being an alloy which means it mixes with other metals, and Cast iron being strong and sturdy in appearance but very brittle when tried to be welded together.
“Right now I am currently replication someone’s fishing motor. It’s stainless so it has to be in salt water but you can’t let it rust. You need to make it real tight and which stainless being such a finicky metal it makes everything difficult, “Castro said. He often helps his classmates in welding or auto by using his immense skills and knowledge for vehicles. “He is always in the auto shop when I see him, but he is a friendly guy who has an impressive collection of tools for his age,” senior Gabby Anaya said.
His skills for welding have taken him to the California Youth AG Expo (CYAE) in Tulare where he was awarded Division Champion. It also took him to the Auction of Champions which is the top five projects from CYAE.
When he graduates from PRHS, he would have his certification of welding from Cuesta College in, Associates in Science which covers courses 270A, 270B, 280A, 280B, 270C, Metallurgy, and Blueprint reading. Castro has talked about working for Paso Tank or taking his talents up east to Fresno which has many job opportunities. For these companies, Castro wants to work with structural or food grade stainless style welding. As his last year has just started, when Castro leaves PRHS his skills, his inspiration, and his affect on others, will be cemented for generations to come.
