As a student in West Virginia Northern Community College’s welding technology program, Brandy Killeen has now become the teacher. The college recently hired Killeen as its first female welding technology instructor. The welding technology graduate — and now educator — is a single mother to a 5-year-old son. “I actually started here for business at Northern and realized that they had welding classes while I was a business student and decided to switch over. I worked for Williams Lea as a legal document specialist for five years. I was working there while I was getting my degree here,” Killeen said. One of Killeen’s goals for the college is to attract more female students in all applied science classes. She is proud to be the first woman to lead the way in this profession at the school.
