Recent thefts at the Dallas County Career Technical Center had slowed down the progress of its welding students. However, a Friday donation by the Tulsa Welding School of Jacksonville, Fla. has things back on track.

The school donated steel and aluminum secured from Neely Coble of Decatur and Liberty Truck Sales of Birmingham.

The donation, Technical Center director Jerolene Williams said, will be extremely helpful to the students who hope to make welding a career.

“We are so grateful to them for bringing these materials down so our students will have something to practice on,” she said. “Tulsa Welding School has been one of our biggest  supporters for a long time and a lot of our students go down there and do really well.”

During her tenure, Williams said 16 students have gone from the technical school to Tulsa Welding School, including two girls.

“They are now employed, doing really well, and encouraging students to go do what they have done,” she said. “We are so grateful to them and all the help they give us. I’m thankful for them because our program turns out some great students.”

The materials, Tulsa Welding School representative Paul Nuckles said, will provide six to seven months of materials for the students.

Nuckles, who brought the materials to Selma with Josh Jones, said the donation was the idea of school president Harold Saulsby.

Nuckles represents North Alabama for the school and had done presentations with Danny Gaylord, the welding instructor. During a recent visit, he learned about the thefts and got the ball rolling.

Gaylor said the materials will help tremendously and he is very grateful.

“We appreciate what they are doing for us,” he said.