Brandon Landry of Ponchatoula, Louisiana, graduated from Surry Community College and Surry Early College High School in 2016, and his education and training have allowed him to work across the nation in a variety of industries.
Landry just completed a work assignment at the Chevron Pasadena refinery outside of Houston, Texas. From there, he moved on to start a new assignment at Valero’s refinery in Corpus Christi, Texas.
“I started out welding in various refineries and chemical plants in southeastern Louisiana. I broke my dominant wrist in 2019 and switched over to pipefitting due to loss of range of motion in my dominant hand, but I still take shorter welding jobs when work slows down. I’ve traveled all over the country in the last few years working turnarounds at different refineries and chemical plants.”
Landry’s work has taken him as far as Kenai, Alaska. He has hopes to travel to Canada and the United Kingdom for work in the near future. In the meantime, he’s working on building up his capital in order to start his own business in southern Louisiana.
He attended classes in the Welding Technologies program at Surry Community College as a student dually enrolled at Surry Early College High School. He obtained his Welding Technology diploma as well as American Welding Society (AWS) certifications through the program.
“My experiences at the college in the Welding program were always a good time while I was learning my trade. I made some really life-long friends that I still keep up with,” said Landry. His former classmates include Eric Trejo, who is now the program’s lead instructor.
Overall, Landry looks back on his time at Surry Community College as a positive experience. “It’s a great place to learn welding. The instructors are very qualified, and your education can take you far if you put in the work.”
To learn more about the Welding at SCC, contact Eric Trejo, Lead Instructor, (336) 386-3350 or trejoer@surry.edu.