After 50 years teaching lessons about welding, and life, Jeff Grossman is hanging up his torch
MASON — Welding teacher Jeff Grossman has spent 50 years taking high school students on a journey, down a "river" he calls it, where every new skill they learn is another stop along the way.
"I've been working on this river for 50 years, and it's still not done yet." Grossman, 74, said, pointing to a printed sheet with the curriculum he gives to students at the beginning of their two years with him.
He uses the river analogy often in class, especially when things get hard for students and they feel overwhelmed. The analogy is meant to "paint a picture for their understanding."
Earlier in the school year, Dakota Barnett, a 16-year-old junior from Dansville, was struggling with a specific type of welding. She couldn't get the hang of it, and she was getting frustrated.
"I sat down with Jeff, and together we figured out how to move forward," she said.
He brought up the river again and explained that just because this part of the river was hard to work through, it didn't mean there wasn't another way she could move forward. She started working on a different method of welding, and he told her to come back to what she was struggling with later.
"He's all about 'open doors,'" Barnett said.
After 50 years of teaching welding to Ingham County high schoolers, Grossman will be retiring in June. Students say he was not only a great teacher, but a mentor for them.
'A whole lot of learning'
Grossman's students, like all of the students at the Wilson Talent Center, are there because they want to be. Students attending any school within the boundaries of the Ingham Intermediate School District can choose to spend half of their school day at the center at 611 Hagadorn Road and learn trades not typically taught in school.
For Grossman, this has meant teaching students who were ready and eager to learn, because they chose to be there.
Grossman started teaching welding to students at the center when he was 24 years old. He'd previously worked at General Motors, but the idea of teaching students who wanted to learn from him was exciting.
"This struck me as kind of like a great, great opportunity for students to have something when they graduate, for offering an employer or offering a school." Grossman said.
And the students in his class agreed they've learned so much from him.
"It's a lot of learning, a whole lot of learning," said Lucas Precise, a senior from Okemos High School.
Joey Ballagh, a senior from Stockbridge High School, echoed this and said he was surprised at how much Grossman has taught him in the nearly two years he's been taking the class.
"It's not just about welding but about life." Ballagh said, adding that he feels more secure in his own future and what he can do.
"Welding can be hard, but we learn how to keep going." Ballagh said. "Jeff always knows how to fix a problem or what to do in a situation, and he shows us how to handle stuff."
'You want to be here'
Grossman said that he'd received a number of calls over the years from students' parents who were shocked at their kids looking forward to going to school every day.
"(Parents) would tell me that their kid had never been so excited in 10 years for school," he said.
Precise was one of those students who struggled with getting through each day when he was going to a typical school for nearly seven hours a day, five days a week.
"I wouldn't be able to make it through the day if I didn't start out my day here." Precise said.
Barnett is one of three girls in the class and said Grossman always made her feel like she belonged in the traditionally male-dominant field.
"He treats everyone the same. He's going to tell you what you need to do to improve regardless of who you are," Barnett said. "He does acknowledge us, like, the girls, and he's proud we're there, but he treats us like anyone else.
"He really is the best teacher, you want to be here."
Leaving the river
Grossman said his main goal is to make sure students leave his class after two years feeling more secure in their futures and their abilities than when they walked in the first day.
"I want students to feel more competent and confident than when they entered 'the river,'" Grossman said.
Grossman knows that not all of his students will become welders, but he's sure that the other skills they learned in his class will stick with them forever, no matter where they end up. As long as they're doing something where they're happy and doing good for the world, he feels he succeeded.
"If you stay on the path where you're doing some good, whether for a client or your people, you should keep going," he said.
In late March, the school celebrated the exact day that marked 50 years of Grossman's service to the school. At the ceremony, three of his current students, Ballagh, Precise and Violet Hacker, presented him with a gift they made during class.
The metal figure reads, "50 years on the river."
Contact Sarah Atwood at satwood@lsj.com. Follow her on X @sarahmatwood.
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: After 50 years teaching lessons about welding, and life, Jeff Grossman is hanging up his torch
