No, it has nothing to do with the blood product.
Jamiere Evans wields a mean plasma cutter, and the student who will be a freshman at University High School this fall said he might not mind employing one for his paychecks to come.
“It’s pretty interesting,” he said, Thursday, at the Monongalia County Technical Education Center.
“And you get lots of sparks.”
The plasma cutter is a high-tech machine that does the precision sculpting necessary for things such as airplane wings and components for suspension bridges.
It gets its name by way of the super-heated material used to cut the steel for such exact work.
Plasma is the fourth state of matter. Picture ice being heated until it melts into water.
Picture that water being heated more, so it turns into steam, or gas.
Heat the gas even more, and you’ll eventually have plasma.
Not to mention a new source of inspiration for Jamiere, who was using his time with the machine to cut a stylized “J” in steel, for a Summer Snowflakes memento.
Summer Snowflakes is the academic enrichment program by Monongalia County Schools that introduces youngsters to fields and studies running a variety of disciplines — from culinary arts to coping skills to the aforementioned, plasma-cutter wielding.
It is funded by the county’s excess levy for education.
This year’s program runs through Thursday, said Julia Hamilton, the district’s extended day activities director and Summer Snowflakes coordinator.
“Our kids and parents love it,” she said.
So much so, in fact, she said, 800 youngsters registered in the first 25 minutes of signups this spring.
It definitely registers with Don Robinette, the county vocational instructor who was running the plasma-cutting session.
“We get them checked out with the gloves and the helmet and all the safety things,” he said. “Then we cut their creativity loose.”
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