Sandra Gomez grew up admiring her grandfather’s skill with metal. He created designs, installed railings, fences and she watched hoping to one day learn even though she didn’t see any women in her family follow in his footsteps.

“I was always drawn to metal,” she said.

Gomez, 32, is now one of 118 students in the Welding Technology Program at Palo Alto College, on San Antonio’s South Side. She spends most of her weekdays alternating between her own courses in the associate degree pathway and volunteering to help most of the other welding students.

“I feel like that’s what I’m here for, to guide them and to show that it’s not just about books… it’s about the passion and the expression that goes into it,” Gomez said. “Never, ever, did I think that I would end up in an instructor positio

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