SALISBURY — There is a lot going on in the works at Salisbury High School.

SHS is the home of Rowan-Salisbury Schools’ Career and Technical Education (CTE) Advanced Manufacturing Academy, and on Tuesday, the Lash Building, which houses the metals department, was abuzz with visitors stopping in to see what all the hubbub is about.

“The open house event is a unique opportunity to see firsthand what we are doing in this growing program,” SHS Metals teacher Mark Wells said in a press release advancing the event.

So what kind of opportunities is the metals class offering RSS students?

“What we do is we take a student that does not know how to do anything with their hands, and we bring them all the way up, from having to read prints to use metallurgy items, measuring calipers, micrometers, things of that nature,” Wells said. “They will take a part, cut their material and then bring that part into fruition using lays, mills, CNCS, grinders or any other equipment we have on our hands.”

Salisbury High offers metals 1, 2 and 3.

“We run three blocks a day,” Wells said. “We have a total of 45 students every semester.”

According to Wells, after completing the metals curriculum, students are uniquely positioned to take what they have learned and transition it into a worthwhile career.

“You could go right into the workforce with skills that the manufacturers in your area are looking for,” Wells said. “I have had students that have left the program and gone into internships with Ashley Furniture as well as one that went to Omni Mold and Die (Winston-Salem) in an apprenticeship.

“Since this is only the second year of this program, I’d say that’s pretty good so far.”

Wells was eager to open up his doors on Tuesday.

“The whole point of events like tonight is to bring people in the community into our shop, into our school, see what we are doing here,” Wells said. “They don’t know that we have this and are teaching these skills that are marketable on the outside.”

With only 12 comparable programs in the state, Salisbury High School is offering students something that they cannot get everywhere.

“If kids don’t or can’t go to college, this pretty much puts them into a position that most manufacturers will give them an apprenticeship or something like that, then that manufacturer will actually pay for them to go to college and get that associate degree in engineering machining,” Wells said.

For him, it only took one experience with metal to get him hooked.

“I was a student at Wright State University getting my bachelor’s degree in geological sciences, and I was fortunate enough to get a student employee shop on campus,” Wells said. “Once I got there, I learned how to cut metal, and I have never stopped.”

Wells recently forged a unique partnership with Tim Isley, a Rockingham Community College faculty member and director of Computer-Integrated Manufacturing Workforce Development, which enabled the donation of more than $250,000 in equipment for the metals lab.

Wells and Isley met last year at a conference sponsored by Haas and Phillips Corp. When Wells learned that Rockingham Community College would soon install all new Haas equipment, he inquired about the old equipment.

Isley answered the call. With Isley’s advocacy and the help of Stacey White, the executive director for Rowan-Salisbury Schools CTE, the equipment was procured, transported and installed at Salisbury High this summer.

“We just built a new building, and we put in all new Haas and CNC equipment,” Isley said. “We were in the process of updating our whole facility, so that was the whole thing behind all this.”

According to the Rowan Economic Development Commission (EDC), manufacturing is one of the top five employers in Rowan County. The Rowan-Salisbury Schools CTE Department works closely with the EDC to build CTE programs that match the employment needs of Rowan County.

One of the students in Wells’ metals class, Oliveah Kendle, is grateful for the chance to learn something new.

“When I first joined this class, I wanted a more hands-on approach to education,” Kendle said. “I really liked the way the class is structured because it’s more of a teach-and-learn kind of place. Rather than learning and spending time focusing on the theory of things, we actually get to apply what we learned in real life, where we get to work with live machines and make things and try and fail and learn from the experiences as we go on.”

Fellow student Dylan Nguyen was a little apprehensive when he began.

“First day I went, I looked at the lab and thought, this looked a little dangerous,” he said. “(Wells) showed us some videos, and I thought it was pretty cool to work with these machines and learn how to make these interesting things that will be useful.”

He’s discovered a lot about the field and has explored what the future could hold.

“We went on a field trip that was all about programming machines instead of handworking machines, and I feel like you could make a lot from programming these things,” he said.

Kendle is similarly looking at what possibilities are out there.

“This class really opened up my eyes,” Kendle said. “I was not aware of trade schools existing at all before I joined this class last year. With this being my junior year, I have been going on field trips, looking at schools that have good trade programs, welding programs and machining classes.”

Isley said he wants to encourage any future metal workers to explore that next step.

“Reach out to your guidance counselor to be able to get you to that next level and put you in touch with the people in the machine and welding in your local community colleges,” Isley said. “They can set you up in the program and show you what is involved in it, whether it’s a certificate program, diploma program or two-year associate’s degree.”