After graduation on Friday, Matthew Nonato, 18, is looking forward to getting into the welding workforce and traveling across the country.

Graduating is a good feeling, the Redmond High senior said.

“Kind of just nerve-wracking, but really, I’m ready for the next steps that’s coming up,” he said. “It’ll be pretty cool to see what the future holds for me.”

The first state champion for welding in Redmond High history, Nonato plans to attend nationals for two different welding competitions this summer: Skills USA and Project MFG. Project MFG’s national competition pits the top 22 welders in high school and college throughout the country, for a top prize of $10,000.

In August, Nonato will head out to Ohio to further train in pipe welding, learning how to weld tubes to pipes, before taking a job in either Alaska or Australia. There are different styles of welding, and Nonato is interested in everything from pipeline welding to boilermaker welding.

“There’s so much you have to learn, and there’s so many things that roll as you’re working,” he said. “I mean, most of everything you learn as you’re working, but there’s still a lot of keys, pieces that are missing to learn what I’m doing and what everything means when I do it.”

He’s enjoyed his experience at Redmond High, he said, and welding has made up most of it.

“I joined the welding program my first year of high school,” Nonato said. “I’ve stuck with it ever since. And I couldn’t be more grateful for the teacher I have today and the support through my parents and everything like that.”

Nonato didn’t think he wanted to make a career out of construction, considering it more of a summer job.

“We were always raised to work with our hands. And there’s a big belief in our family that men were supposed to do manly work and work with their hands,” he said. “We grew up on a ranch and grew up raising cattle and building fences and a bunch of stuff like that.”

But when he found welding, Nonato said he felt like he found a career that could last a lifetime.

Nonato’s going to miss the relationship he’s built with Dan Kernion, his manufacturing instructor.

“I think the relationship and all the traveling we do together, and the bond we build as a welding team, and even with our teacher, it just feels like it’s not even like a school thing anymore. It’s more of a family thing,” he said. “Definitely the bond we have, and just all the good times and laughs we have, are definitely the memories I’m going to miss. So, I don’t think there’s ever a time in this class that I never was like, man, I don’t want to do this anymore. It was always: Everything was possible for me.”

Nonato began a welding business with another student at age 16, building anything from a rack for off-highway vehicles to doing repair work on custom fences.

He travels to train with different people and learn different styles from former national champions and national qualifiers.

“There’s a lot of connections and bonds I’ve built through this program,” he said.

Nonato was considering dropping out of high school as a sophomore, but his mom talked him into staying. He wanted to finish school and earn a diploma for her, he said.

“There’s only so much time you get with family. What’s it hurt to stay two more years?” he said. “I think my mom is my biggest reason for everything.”

Nonato wants to become a traveling welder, and said his biggest goal is to “give back to the people that made me.” His biggest accomplishment would be to work in all fifty states, and he wants to visit Miami, West Texas, Wyoming and northern Alaska, among other places. He also wants to make sure his mom can retire, not have to work again and be able to travel herself.

Nonato said he feels he’s gotten a life plan from his high school experience.

“I learned a lot, from how to have a good attitude about everything, keep your head up and be positive about the stuff that happens,” he said. “My worst day could be somebody’s best day. I always think about it like that.”

Nonato advised future seniors to use the classroom as a life changer, not as a social hub or a phone booth.

“Just keep your head down and just do the things you know how to do and be confident in who you are. Know what you’re capable of,” he said. “When you graduate high school, it’s not going to be the same game as it was when you were in high school. The work field and real life is more than a slap in the face when you really get the taste of it. I think the biggest advice is get your life together as fast as you can. Because the next step comes faster than you would ever think.”

Reporter: noemi.arellano-summer@bendbulletin.com, 541-383-0325