By Susan Tolleson, JCCC
High school degree? Check. Welding Certificate from JCCC? Check. Receive them the same month? Double check.
Recent graduate Jasmine Gambhir got a jump on her future by completing a 32-hour certificate in Welding through JCCC’s Career Ready program while still in high school. As a senior, she attended high school classes at her school in the morning, then JCCC classes on campus in the afternoon.
“It can be stressful and exhausting to get a college certificate while graduating from high school,” said Gambhir. “But it’s only for a little while. It’s worth it to be finished with school and get a job faster.”
Get to your dream job faster with JCCC’s Career Ready program
At five partner school districts, Career Ready students like Gambhir can earn a certificate in Career and Technical Education (CTEC) fields like industrial trades and transportation (including Automotive Technology, Electrical Technology, HVAC, Plumbing, and Welding/Metal Fabrication), as well as Cybersecurity, Certified Nurse Aide (CNA), and Emergency Medical Responder, while working toward their high school diploma. In Spring 2025, approximately 30 area high school students earned certificates through this program.
Initially, Gambhir just needed to take an elective. She thought it might be fun to take a welding class, so she convinced a friend to take it with her. Little did she know she’d come to love it. Now she’s helping at home on projects and looking for the perfect job to kick off her career.
“I’m really passionate about it,” Gambhir says. “More and more women are getting into the field, but it’s still not very common for a woman to be a welder. I think women could be really good at it since we generally have strong fine motor skills and attention to detail.”
The program was paid for by Excel in CTE, the Kansas State Senate bill that authorizes JCCC to waive the cost of tuition for high school students enrolled in career technical courses, like welding. Excel in CTE paid for all of Jasmine’s tuition; she just had about $100 of expenses and some tools to purchase. Now she’s taking her time looking for a job that could start at more than $20/hour, or in the low- to mid-$40,000s annually.
JCCC does offer an associate degree in welding/metal fabrication, but Gambhir says she doesn’t need it for what she wants to do. Her dream job? Welding race cars.
Get a jump on a future career while still in high school
JCCC has many early college programs in addition to Career Ready.
College Now is JCCC’s concurrent enrollment program, which allows high school students to take college-level classes and earn college credit while still in their high school classrooms.
With Dual Degree, if students start as a high school junior, they could receive their associate degree at the same time they receive their high school diploma. These students take all their classes at JCCC during their junior and senior years of high school.
Learn more
Learn more about JCCC’s Early College programs and even more ways to earn college credit in high school at jccc.edu/earlycollege.
