For Makaio Welch, of Elmont, a summer internship at M.A.C.-Tech Fabrication & Repairs in Queens has provided more than an introduction to welding, allowing the Kellenberg Memorial High School student an opportunity to explore a career path he had never experienced before.
Makaio, who is entering 10th grade at the Uniondale school, began his internship at the fabrication company in mid-July, learning how to weld, operate a laser cutter, drill and assemble metal pieces and work with different types of metal.
“I really like it because it’s such a comprehensive view of everything,” Makaio said. “I wasn’t just focused on one area. Almost everything in the shop, I know how to do.”
Before the internship, Makaio never tried his hand at welding, but it has become one of the skills he has spent the most time developing.
“I spent a lot of time on welding. I’ve really improved,” he said.
His work has included several personal projects, including a small metal figure, a brass obelisk and an Iron Man helmet that he has been constructing from laser-cut pieces of metal.
He said that creating the helmet has been challenging because the templates he found online were designed for foam rather than metal. Makaio has had to reshape the pieces by hand, account for compound curves and repeatedly adjust the metal so the pieces fit together.
“I had no idea what I was doing,” Makaio said of the helmet’s prototype. “Now that I understand the actual process, I’m trying to make a real one.”
Chester Gordon, owner of M.A.C.-Tech, said Makaio was among the company’s first interns as it began exploring ways to introduce more young people to fabrication and the skilled trades.
Gordon said students often do not know whether a trade is right for them until they have the opportunity to work with the tools and materials themselves.
“They just picture it in their head,” Gordon said. “When they get their hands-on experience, then they know something that they’re interested in, and then they can expand on their skill sets.”
Gordon said he was introduced to fabrication as a young person after a family friend gave him an opportunity to learn the trade. He eventually went into aviation and worked with aircraft structures before building his career in fabrication.
That experience has sparked his interest in creating similar opportunities for students.
M.A.C.-Tech also has established a connection with the Elmont community through its work with local institutions, including the Elmont Memorial Library and schools.
At the library, the company has been working on new self-checkout kiosks that will allow patrons to check out books independently. The kiosks will include a credit card reader, buttons and a scanner, while M.A.C.-Tech is fabricating the enclosure that will house the electronic components.
“The kiosk is going to be for our machines when you check out the book,” Natasha Warburton, president of the library’s board of trustees, said.
The company also has completed work for the library’s theater and has worked with local schools, giving students another opportunity to see how fabrication and technical skills can be applied to projects in their own community.
For Warburton, the relationship between the company, the library and students demonstrated the value of connecting young people with local businesses and hands-on career experiences.
“It is encouraging to kids that you don’t have to pursue something that you don’t want to do,” Warburton said.
She said opportunities such as Makaio’s internship can open the door for students who may not have considered a career in the skilled trades. For students who have not yet decided what they want to do after high school, hands-on exposure to different industries can help them determine what interests them and what skills they want to develop.
Gordon said he would like to see more students offered the same opportunity Makaio has had and potentially expand the company’s internship program in the future.
The goal, he said, is to give young people an opportunity to learn about fabrication by doing the work rather than simply hearing about it.
The internship already has had that impact on Makaio. Although he has considered becoming an engineer, he said his understanding of the career has changed as he has gained more hands-on experience.
“I say that I want to be an engineer, but the more and more that I go in the world, I realize that what my imagination of an engineer may be is not what I really want to do,” he said.
Makaio said he is now focused on continuing to explore his interests rather than committing himself to one career.
“I’m trying to figure out what could be some of the things that I like to do,” he said.
For Makaio, the summer has provided him with an opportunity to learn skills he had never tried before and see the complete process behind fabrication, from designing and cutting pieces to bending, welding and finishing them.
For M.A.C.-Tech, his internship could be the beginning of a larger effort to introduce Elmont-area students to skilled trades and give them hands-on experience before they have to decide what comes next.
As he was preparing to return to Kellenberg, Makaio was applying the finishing touches to his Iron Man helmet — a project that began as a prototype and has become a demonstration of how much he has learned during his summer internship.
