DES MOINES, Iowa — “A one-in-2,000 student” — that’s how instructors describe Max Wardell, a senior at Ankeny High School and welding student at Des Moines Public Schools’ Central Campus. Wardell recently brought honors home to the Hawkeye State, beating 250 of the best high school welders in the country for first place at the Missouri Welding Institute competition.
Competition participants were tasked with fabricating and welding to exact specifications under time pressure — all without any coaching. At the competition, Wardell demonstrated “mastery” of the “notoriously difficult” 3F weave, Central Campus wrote in a Facebook post.
As a result, Wardell walked away with more than $29,000 and a full-ride scholarship to Missouri Welding Institute’s Pipe Trades Program…