Patch Whiz Kid of the Week: Jackye Smith, 18

School: Somerville High School: Center for Career and Technical Education

Accomplishment: Smith will graduate in May with four years of welding experience as one of the three female students in her program.

How she got there: Smith said she chose to study welding in part to dispute gender stereotypes. “Some senior guy said I couldn’t do it because I was a girl,” she said. Now, through school-sponsored videos and talks, Smith emboldens incoming freshmen female students to join the male-dominated program.

The possibility of creating art and experimenting also appealed to Smith. She spent her junior year creating a four-foot sculpture of a skater doing a trick, the first project she completed by herself. The independence that the program provides has expanded Smith’s artistic outlook. “If I see something on the street, I’ll say, ‘Oh, I can totally do that at the shop,’” she said.

Smith sits on the School Improvement Council to get the vocational center more money and recognition. Meanwhile, Smith said she appreciates the cozy atmosphere of the welding program’s basement location. Amid the noise of students cutting metal and yelling to be heard, she feels at home. “Downstairs it’s like a family,” she said.

Smith plans to study mechanical engineering and psychology in college and aspires to be a metal artist.