Welding student gives Helping Hounds a hand

Alivia Allen, a senior from Baldwinsville, is helping an organization she loves because of the welding skills she picked up in the OCM BOCES Career & Technical Education program at our Thompson Road Campus. Since last spring, Alivia has fixed three kennels at the Helping Hounds Dog Rescue on Kinne Road in DeWitt by welding doors and fixing wiring. Until Alivia volunteered, the organization had put the kennels out of commission and expected to hire a professional welder to get them fixed. Instead, Alivia did the work herself with a little guidance from her father, Randy.

“It felt really good to help them out like that and save them hundreds of dollars to hire a welder,” said Alivia, who volunteers at the shelter with her mother, Maryellen.

After her high school graduation, Alivia hopes to become a professional welder in Florida.