SASKATCHEWAN POLYTECHNIC
Youth welding project sparks interest in the trades

Last summer, a local teenager walked into Rob Jung's shop in Hudson Bay with a simple question. He had picked up a welder at a yard sale and wanted to learn how to use it. Jung showed him a few basic welds.

Then a friend came. Then another. Before long, what started as an informal lesson had grown into a youth welding project attracting students from across the region.

Today, Rob Jung's Youth Welding Project serves about 15 active students between the ages of nine and 18, offering them a chance to learn welding and fabrication.

"It's been surprising," says Jung. "I never planned any of it. I'm just kind of along for the ride."

Image credit: Rob Jung

A third-generation welder, Jung grew up in his family's welding shop in Melfort. After graduating from the Welding certificate program at SIAST, now Saskatchewan Polytechnic, through Cumberland College in 1999, he built a career in repair, fabrication and production welding. About a decade ago, he began experimenting with metal art, eventually turning the hobby into a full-time career. In 2024, he purchased a former autobody shop in Hudson Bay and transformed it into a metal art studio and gallery.

Not long after arriving in Hudson Bay, he learned there was no local welding program for high school students. The idea of offering instruction stayed in the back of his mind until the teenager with the yard-sale welder walked through the door.

What followed revealed a strong appetite among local youth eager to work with their hands.

"They don't even realize they're learning to weld," Jung says. "They're just coming up with a project and I show them what they need to learn to do that project."

Students choose their own projects, from metal flowers and artwork to furniture and household items, while learning welding techniques, shop safety and problem solving.

That freedom is what drew Mackenzie Hintz to the project in January 2026 after seeing Jung's work online and hearing about it from classmates.

Image credit: Rob Jung

"I wanted to learn how to weld and I love the creative freedom Rob gave me," she says. "I do something different every day. I can bring anything I want to Rob and he always finds a way to help me bring it to life."

Hintz works at the shop once or twice a week and says she's learned both welding skills and patience.

"I've learned the importance of grinding your welds so they look pretty and how to think things through instead of jumping right into them."

The experience has even opened new possibilities for the future. "I'm still not sure what I will be doing in the future but welding is definitely an option now."

For Sarah Johnson, 17, the project has already helped shape a career path.

Johnson joined after dropping off a friend at the shop and asking if there was room for another student. A week later, she was welding.

"I've always known I wanted to go into a trade," she says.

She quickly discovered she enjoyed the work. "When I first started, he just had me practicing some welds, getting used to everything," she says. "I feel like I welded for hours. I did not stop. It was non-stop because I was like, 'I really like this.'"

As her skills grew, so did the complexity of her projects. Among her favourite projects are chairs built from old tractor seats and a custom table. "I like making more functional stuff."

Her interest in welding was further reinforced through Sask Polytech's Jill of All Trades event, which introduces young women to careers in the skilled trades.

Johnson explored several trades including carpentry but welding stood out. Learning alongside other young women and meeting tradespeople working in the industry reinforced her growing interest in the field.

"Jill of All Trades let me see the different options and learn more about them."

Overall, the experience helped confirm what she had already begun to discover in Jung's shop: welding was becoming more than a hobby. She has since been accepted into welding programs at both Sask Polytech and North West College in Meadow Lake and plans to pursue a career in fabrication and repair.

Roughly three-quarters of the project's participants are female, a figure that doesn't surprise Johnson. She says the supportive environment is part of the appeal. "I know I got anxious when I was the only girl in a carpentry class. Here, everybody's learning together."

The project's growth has been driven largely by word of mouth and extends well beyond Hudson Bay. Families from neighbouring communities have reached out about participating, while community members, businesses, service clubs and industry partners have contributed funding, materials, equipment and volunteer support.

Jung plans to continue the program as long as there is interest.

What started with one teenager and a yard-sale welder has become something much larger: a community-supported project helping young people discover new skills, confidence and opportunities in the skilled trades.

"Sometimes all a kid needs is the opportunity to try it," Jung says.

Learn more about the Jill of All Trades event and outreach programs hosted by Women in Trades and Technology (WITT), powered by Orano.