Garrett Mix had a plan. Pipeline welding — the kind of work that pays well and takes you all over the country. He was going to start right after turning 18.

Then his girlfriend weighed in.

"She didn't want me traveling so much," the Central High School senior said. "I was like, all right."

So he found another option. There's a company called Trade Construction right off of Joor Road that does welding and pipe work. Garrett plans to show up there as a tacker when he turns 17 — the entry-level role where you secure pipe fittings in place before the full welders lay the final bead.

"Like a whole assembly line," he said. "Kind of like making a car."

From there, the plan is straightforward: stay, learn, earn trust.

"Slowly make my way up," he said. "Build my name up some more."

Garrett has been welding since his freshman year at Central. He started with stick welding, earned all his certifications for it, and is working on TIG now. His first two years were under Mr. Triggs. This year, he's with Mr. Eastwood. Three years of building both skill and credentials.

The certifications, he's quick to clarify, only get you in the door. Once you're in the field, you still have to prove yourself.

That doesn't bother him. He knows what he knows.

The welding path was practically handed to him. His pop, his grandpa, and his dad all welded during their own working years and high school days.

"They always told me, you should try welding," he said. He tried it. He's been there ever since.

He knows it's physical work. He also knows what the trade pays.

"It's a hard trade to do," he said. Then he grinned. "But that paycheck."

Garrett also ended up in chemistry this year — which is unusual for a student as deep into career and technical education as he is. It wasn't entirely by choice. Midway through the year, he found out there was an alternative science track designed for trade students. When he went to make the switch, they told him it was too late.

So he stayed in chemistry.

"Chemistry is getting me right now," he said, laughing.

He'll switch to the trade-aligned science path next year. In the meantime, he's carrying a harder course than most of his CTE peers, which means he'll come out of it with more.

Outside school, Garrett works at Sullivan's Hardware — stocking, hauling, helping customers, whatever the job requires on a given day.

"Whatever they tell me to do, I'm gonna do it," he said. "Keep straight rolling."

His closest friends at Central were all seniors (as of this writing)  — all in welding, all heading toward fabrication shops and metalworks as their next chapter. Graduation was the week of this interview. Garrett hoped to catch it between shifts.

"I'm gonna try and make it if I don't work," he said.

He's lived in Central his whole life. Asked what makes the community worth staying in, he took a moment.

"Friends," he said. Then: “Friends and family are what make this place so good. It's such a strong community.”

Mayor Evans said something similar - faith, family, and education, in that order. Garrett agreed with all three.

Next year he'll be a senior. The year after that, Trade Construction on Joor Road.  Then, however far up the pipe-and-fab ladder his work takes him — with or without the camper he's already half-talked his girlfriend into considering.

He's thought about trade school. He might still go. But three years of certification and shop time have given him something he thinks is already worth something.

"I've gained enough experience, I feel like, to go into fab shops and start off," he said.

Start off. Build the name. Work his way up.

He already understands what that takes.