Page 43 - Harnett Life Winter 2019

ing a camp stove and even fixing a muffler “because it ment, Myers said he was definitely impressed, but not
really gets beaten up going up the mountain,” Dylan surprised. He recalled how Dylan not only had the abil-
said. ity to make good technical welds, but also to visualize
projects from a blueprint or, in the case of his camp
While the projects might sound fairly simple, they stove, from a photo off the internet.
were not. The welding equipment on hand in Chen-
cha wasn’t the most advanced and conditions were “You have to use your mind to figure it out and he was
nothing like the pristine industrial plant where Dylan really good at that,” Myers said, also crediting Dylan’s
honed his trade. But what he learned during the ap- persistence and personal character. “Maybe a handful
prenticeship from Central Carolina Community Col- of students could have done something like that.”
lege welding instructors Charles Bell and David Myers “Dylan Smith is one of the best welding students in our
gave Dylan the confidence and creativity to succeed. program,” said Bell, noting that Dylan “loves every-
thing about welding and has a huge drive to do excep-
“It was definitely my ability to adapt,” Dylan said tionally good work.”
about what made it work. “There, you were blasting
through rust and dirt, so I had to adapt my welding Bell added that one of Dylan Smith’s best qualities is
techniques. In trouble shooting, I couldn’t even read that he is unselfish. “I have been really blessed to have
the amperage to show how much current was going him as one of my students and my only hope is I get
through (the equipment), so I was guessing and then another opportunity to teach him as he completes his
listening to the weld. degree in welding,” said Bell.

“Without me going through the Caterpillar program Life On the Farm
and being with Bell and Myers, I wouldn’t have been Many of the welding projects didn’t unfold until a de-
able to do half the things I did.” livery of scrap metal arrived late in the trip. The rest
Later, when the instructor saw a photo of the camp of the time, Dylan commuted back and forth from the
stove project and heard about his former student’s Bridges’ home in Chencha about nine miles up a steep
ability to adapt in an especially challenging environ- and bumpy road to the farm where Jonathan and Jes-

Dylan Smith (left) is pictured with Jonathan Bridges
(right) during his summer visit to the Ethiopian highlands.