Aspiring welder fuses career skill, hobby in winning formula

Welding brings Spencer Samek joy and challenges, and she knows a career in the field will pay well and give her a chance to travel. There’s another benefit: She can repair her broken demolition derby cars for the next competition.

Samek is a petite but mighty proponent of a skill she undertook in high school. The 2024 Putnam County High School graduate flowed from high school welding classes to Illinois Valley Community College’s Spark Jr. welding summer camp before signing on as a full-fledged college dual-credit student while still in high school.

Program coordinator Theresa Molln encountered Samek every time Molln set up a booth at a job fair or open house. This summer, she enlisted the promising student to guide summer campers.

Being a welding lab assistant was a new role, but Samek enjoyed it. It helped her realize “I know my stuff” about welding, and the answers to campers’ questions came easily.

Molln remembers a quiet young woman attending her first class, “but she was still in high school and seeing how to negotiate things here at the college level. I could see her soaking things in. She has come into her own since that first class,” Molln said.

Molln described Samek as a smart, quick learner who listens to instructions, “whether it’s something in lecture or about how to read a weld puddle – and she adapts well. If she’s uncertain about a new process or about anything, she asks questions until she gets them answered.”

Welding can be fun and difficult, but that’s part of the fun, too, Samek said.

“I like the challenge of figuring out how to make things work,” she said.

Samek is never daunted by being the only girl in her welding classes.

“I’m little, and I don’t look 18, but I’ve always stood my ground,” Samek said. “Welding is not something you see a lot of women do, but that doesn’t bother me.”

Size gives her an advantage if she’s going to become a pipefitter, which is her goal. She can fit and maneuver in small spaces – which she doesn’t mind “as long as I can see the light at the end.” The job also offers travel opportunities and variety, “not doing the same thing all day or being in the same position all day.”

Molln said Samek has a wide-open field to choose from.

“She is good at stick welding and can find a job in any repair shop, fabrication shop or apply for the Pipefitters union,” Molln said. “She’s even better at [gas tungsten arc welding], a process that requires a lot of fine motor skills and pays more because of the higher skill level.”

IVCC matched her schedule and allowed her to continue to work while attending evening classes, Samek said. And IVCC’s program puts her on a fast track to a good-paying job. Community college, she said “is so worth it.” As a bonus, she was surrounded by “my whole friend group” from high school who also attends classes at IVCC.

She enjoys the small classes and finds teachers always ready to help and explain things.

“The teachers are spectacular. I was never afraid to ask questions,” Samek said. “I had no clue there was so much to welding – a lot more than they teach in high school.”

She reserves high praise for Molln.

Samek and her sister spent their childhoods “getting muddy and dirty” four-wheeling, playing on the family farm near Lostant, fishing or boating. She remembers falling out of trees while exploring birds’ nests.

Then, her stepfather and stepsisters got her hooked on demolition derby. She holds trophies from competing around the area.

“It’s one of the few arenas where you’re expected to run into people on a daily basis,” she said of the sport, where victory goes to the last car left running.

“My favorite is smashing out windows” or taking out a bigger competitor. Her whole family of aunts, uncles and grandparents turns out to watch, mingle and grill out.

Want to learn more about Samek’s experience or the welding program? Visit ivcc.edu/programsbyareaofstudy/welding/index.php or email Molln at theresa_molln@ivcc.edu.