LETU TO HOST ‘PHANTOM OF THE MATERIALS JOINING OPERA’ OPEN HOUSE

(LONGVIEW, Texas)— LeTourneau University’s materials joining program will present a fun, family-oriented welding and material joining demonstration event from 3 to 6 p.m. Saturday, April 14, at the Kielhorn Welding Lab. The lab is located at the southeast corner of the LETU campus, 2100 S. Mobberly Ave., in Longview.  The event is free and open to the public.

Featuring the haunting melodies of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Phantom of the Opera” Broadway musical, this wacky, funhouse event will feature a robotic welding arm playing a piano keyboard, tuning pipes and a dropping chandelier.  The demonstration will also feature a flaming atomic hydrogen welding machine, zombies looking for welds and a masked motorcycle maniac.   Snacks and beverages will be provided.

“A special propane flame music visualization will mesmerize and amaze those who come out to the lab on Saturday,” said Mark Fahlgren, senior welding major from Modesto, Calif., who is helping organize the event.  “We will have laser smoke from welding through dry ice, a spark-filled titanium spot welding demonstration and masked minstrels playing musical instruments.”

The purpose of the event is to bring awareness, and some light-hearted humor and fun, to this essential and misunderstood degree program in welding and materials joining engineering.  LETU graduates in this program have consistently had numerous career offers each year for the past two decades. 

LETU’s newly renovated Kielhorn lab is the largest stand-alone welding lab in the nation where undergraduates get hands-on experience on state-of-the art welding and materials joining equipment.  The lab is named for Bill Kielhorn, the late, beloved LETU professor who taught at the university for 45 years without missing a class, Skyping his last class from a hospital bed.

LeTourneau University is an interdenominational Christ-centered university located in Longview, Texas, offering academic majors in aviation, business, criminal justice, education, engineering, health science-nursing, human services, liberal arts, science and psychology. LeTourneau University also offers graduate degrees in business administration, counseling, education, engineering, psychology and strategic leadership. In addition to its residential campus in Longview, the university offers undergraduate and graduate programs online and at educational centers in Athens, Austin, Baytown, Bedford, Dallas, Harlingen, Houston, and Tyler.

LeTourneau University news releases can be found online at www.letu.edu