The smell of hot steel was thick in the room on Thursday as Nick Reiser, 18, cut through the metal handle on the welding table with his live torch. The sparks were reflected on the high school senior’s red, white and blue welding helmet, and the hiss of the burn was accompanied by grinding metal elsewhere in the Smithfield High School lab.
Reiser and sophomore Dalton Epps, 16, were cutting off a handle on the table, shortening it and reattaching it on a more convenient side for the space.
“It was kind of hard to get through, so we’re making some more room,” Dalton said.
