Grace Meets Grit: Carroll Student’s Path from Dance Studio to Welding Program

For Welding program completer Heidi Moore, success meant following a career path that was uniquely hers. What started as afternoons assisting her father with his welding projects grew into a lifelong interest in metalwork. Along the way, she found the courage to step away from a future doing her other passion—dance—to pursue the trade that fulfilled her most.

From Pirouettes to Power Tools

A resident of Westminster, Maryland since birth, Heidi spent much of her childhood at her mother’s dance studio, training there for years. “I danced ever since I was two, up until I graduated from high school,” she shared. “After school, I’d go to my mom’s studio at 3:30 and I’d be there until ten at night every day and even on the weekends.”

For a long time, Heidi believed her future was in dance. Her mother owns Tami Gee’s Studio of Dance in Finksburg, where Heidi had been a dedicated student and performer. Heidi also grew up watching her father, a welder specializing in ornamental ironwork who runs his own home-based business, Thor’s Hammer & Forge. One day, her mother suggested she go outside and help him. That moment changed everything.

“I started helping him and ever since then I kind of became his right-hand man,” Heidi recalled. “It was amazing to see him create the work at home, how intricate and precise he was with it, then taking it to the jobsite and installing it.” That’s when Heidi knew she wanted welding to be her career.

Her mother, who had been encouraging Heidi to pursue dance, had reservations about her daughter’s choice of vocations. “My mom in the beginning was scared for me to be in a field where it’s very male dominated,” Heidi said. “But once I told her I wanted to enter a Welding Program to get my certification, and I presented her with a well-thought-out plan, she was like, okay, Heidi’s actually serious about this.”

Making Sparks Fly at Carroll

When Heidi set out to earn her welding certification, she researched the trade schools in the area. Lincoln Tech was an option, but the tuition was too high. “Carroll Community College was near me, and there were great reviews about its Welding program,” she said. “I knew other people who had gone there and really liked it.” She decided Carroll was the right fit for her.

Heidi enrolled in Carroll’s Welding Program, where she found both financial and personal support. “I was able to receive a scholarship from Carroll,” she said, “which took so much stress off my plate so I could focus on my schooling.”

More importantly, her instructors gave her the confidence she needed to thrive in the program. “They were very considerate, very kind,” Heidi recalled. “They took time to dial in on any questions I had, any concerns I had, showing me the correct way on how to do things. Just giving me great guidance throughout the courses.”

Heidi remembers the impact of two of her Welding Program instructors: Harrison Wilt and Michael Schweinsberg. “Mr. Wilt knows exactly what he’s talking about when it comes to amperage, volts, gas, what type of wire you need,” Heidi said. “He’s like a scientist about it, which is something I aspired to be as well. And Mr. Schweinsberg is old school, which I love. He takes care of his students. He’ll let you come in and practice welding whenever you can.”

After six months of training, Heidi completed her Welding Program certification and was ready to enter the workforce. Taking advantage of her instructor’s professional connections, within a month she landed a job at FR Conversions, a car factory in Westminster, where she helped modify vehicles for accessibility.

[My professors] were very considerate, very kind. They took time to dial in on any questions I had, any concerns I had, showing me the correct way on how to do things. Just giving me great guidance throughout the courses.

Forging Her Future in Welding

Today, Heidi works as a welder/fabricator at Miscellaneous Metals in Walkersville, MD. “I do structural work now,” she said. “I fabricate railings, stringers, and channels like my father does. It has been a great move. I’m learning so much and still have so much to learn.” 

Heidi harbors even loftier goals in the long term. “Something I would love to do is work for the FBI to create the mechanisms they need—all their armor and stuff like that,” she explained. “Whatever is the highest position or the coolest welding job, that’s where I want to be. Each step I take is a step forward towards that.”

Looking back, Heidi knows her background in dance gave her more than performance skills—it also gave her resilience. “Dance taught me leadership. It made me go out of my comfort zone, to take chances. It taught me that I will not win every single time but to not give up. You will fail in life; you just have to pick yourself back up.”

This lesson extends to Heidi’s advice for anyone considering a career in the trades. “It is very challenging, and it might feel like you’re not getting anywhere at some points, especially when you’re practicing for the Welding program certification tests. But don’t give up! Remind yourself why you’re doing this. Remind yourself that you have to do hard things in life to get the results you want.”