Ashley LeClair, Welding Technology Teacher at Pinkerton Academy
Growing up, Ashley enjoyed working on off-road trucks and racing them on the weekends. That natural interest in working on trucks and welding together frames and various parts with her friends led to a career in welding. Ashley attended Manchester Community College and earned her associate’s degree in welding. After graduation, Ashley joined a company in the area and often traveled around Boston — working in shipyards.
A social butterfly, Ashley became her company’s go-to representative for Career Construction Days each year — an outreach program that introduces local high school students to the wide range of career opportunities available in the different trades. Through attending, Ashley met numerous people around New Hampshire and eventually, got to know the Welding Technology Teacher at Pinkerton Academy.
That teacher mentioned to Ashley that he planned to retire soon, and encouraged her to apply for the position because she seemed like the perfect fit.
For Ashley, the last place she ever expected herself to be was in a school again. A bit of a self-proclaimed outsider, she didn’t love her time in school. However, knowing she wanted to spend more time with her family and travel less for work, she applied for the position and was soon hired as Pinkerton’s Welding Technology Teacher — overseeing Welding Technology I and Welding Technology II.
Now in her fourth year teaching at Pinkerton, she can’t imagine being anywhere else.
Preparing tomorrow’s leaders
A leader in the area, Pinkerton is one of the 26 regional Career and Technical Education (CTE) centers in New Hampshire. The campus offers 70-plus subjects each school year and serves 3,000 students through CTE programs. The courses are organized around labs designed to simulate actual work environments and students use state-of-the-art equipment and perform tasks aligned to industry standards.
For Welding Technology I (CT0755), students must apply each year and there’s a waitlist. It’s a competitive program and only a small number of students are accepted. (Ashley’s current class consists of 16 students.) Throughout the semester, students learn to control fire, electricity, and heat to design, fabricate, and dismantle metal projects. While some of the class consists of textbook work, Ashley tries to give her students as much time in the lab as possible — providing hands-on experiences with different equipment and techniques for manipulating metal.
The students who do well in Welding Technology I and discover a passion for welding are encouraged to apply for Welding Technology II. Ashley notes that about 90 percent of her students move on to Welding Technology II, but there are always a few students who decide on a different route — and that’s okay.
Growing and expanding the program
Without a traditional teaching background, Ashley’s first school year was a learning opportunity in itself, and it took her a bit of time to find her groove. She credits her colleagues in the other CTE programs for helping — whether that meant bouncing curriculum ideas off others or just having someone to talk to after a difficult day.
“There were some growing pains that first year,” noted Ashley.
Pinkerton’s support system made all the difference and helped her discover what worked best for her teaching style. Plus, in her first year as a full-time teacher, Ashley became fast friends with a new art teacher and both bonded over navigating their first school year together.
Today, weaving in opportunities for her students to be creative is a big part of Ashley’s teaching style. Learning welding sometimes gets unfairly labeled as boring because traditionally, students practice creating welding joints with random pieces of metal that don’t create something larger — they’re just pieces of metal to practice with and discard afterwards. Instead, Ashley encourages her students to create things, whether it’s a rack for a student’s pickup truck or a small metal pumpkin to celebrate Halloween.
Throughout Ashley’s time at Pinkerton, the Pinkerton Advisory Board has worked with her to help grow and expand the different CTE programs. Thanks to that strong relationship, students can now earn a math credit in the welding program. Working with some of the math coaches at Pinkerton, the team created an extra math credit students can pursue and earn through taking welding.
“There’s a natural crossover, and I’ve seen where kids who might think they’re not math people flourish and get it when math concepts are applied to the work they’re doing in the lab,” said Ashley. “I had one student who struggled with fractions, and it finally clicked for her this year. She was so excited and called her dad to let him know. He was even more excited over the phone!”
Setting students up for success
Each school year, Ashley emphasizes what’s possible. She encourages her students to attend SkillsUSA, the New Hampshire Welding Competition, and other events. In fact, three of her current students are ranked top three in the state. While it’s hard work, Ashley emphasizes that opportunities are out there, and she often welcomes back former students — giving them a platform to share a bit about their careers and get to know the current group of students.
And that’s what it’s all about for Ashley — the kids.
“The kids make it worth it — 100 percent,” explained Ashley. “From former students coming back, to seeing kids who’ve struggled in the traditional classroom setting thrive and find a purpose working with metal, that is what drives me each and every day.”
