SPRINGFIELD – One look and you could tell; this kid works with his hands. Dirt was already caked into his fingerprints from years of work.

Cayden Frederick is 18 years old and just graduated from Thurston High School. He grew up attending the Thurston schools and attended Thurston Elementary and Middle Schools. He remembered when he was first transitioning to high school and got to explore classes, clubs, sports, and activities during Colt Night.

“Colt night, that’s right, when I was a freshman. I still remember it, which is weird; I don’t know how. I remember seeing that metal shop and being like, ‘wow, that’s crazy. I know I want to do that.’ It’s always intrigued me. I like to take stuff apart, put it back together, and see how it works,” Frederick said.

Frederick grew up working on fixer-upper vehicles with his dad. He has three trucks of his own now– one that runs and two “projects.” For his father’s retirement this year, Frederick gifted him a Corvette that they both worked on together.

“He has a huge influence on my life for sure.”

In school, Frederick stayed in the metal shop classroom, taking classes like Metal Fabrication, Machine and Welding Technology, and Advanced Metals 1-4. He learned how to draw and design projects, then program them in AutoCAD on a computer and use a plasma cutter to create parts of the project. Then he used his welding skills to assemble the pieces into the final form.

“It’s like you’re designing and building a Lego set in a way,” he said.

One of his favorite projects was one he chose on his own. Rock sliders protect a truck’s rocker panels and underbody from rocks and trail obstacles during off-road use. Frederick figured out how to bend metal tubing at the right angle and incorporated his drawing, designing, and welding skills to make his own rock sliders.

Frederick said his technical skills have significantly improved since his freshman year, and that Polly Kohl taught his metal classes the whole way through.

“The best teacher, my favorite teacher, personally, no offense to the others. She taught that class very well,” Frederick said. “She would teach hands-on and show everything at first. Advanced 1 was a little more lenient, kind of doing your own thing, but she was still showing you a lot of things.”

Kohl has taught eight classes with Frederick as a student. Some recent projects he has worked on in her class include metal stands and racks for welding metal storage. She said the projects highlight his fabrication skills, which include developing a concept, drawing plans, determining material quantities, preparing materials, fitting-up, welding, finishing, and painting.

“He is a student who has developed from an energetic, enthusiastic freshman to a senior that I can trust to do quality work on any project from start to finish with very little direction from me,” Kohl said. “It has been a huge pleasure having Cayden in my classes. Any employer will be lucky to have him on their team.”

As graduation celebrations come to an end and high school becomes a memory, Frederick is considering the ThinkBig program at Peterson Cat through Lane Community College. He said the program will pay for schooling in Portland for four to six weeks and reimburse students’ living expenses while they are there.

Once school training is complete, another six weeks are spent training in the field for the company. Thurston High School principal Kimberlee Pelster described the program as the military version of the trades.

Frederick said he learned about the program from a representative at Peterson Cat who spoke at the school.

“Hopefully in five to six years, I’ll be in my own service truck, driving out to people with heavy machinery that need help,” he said. He described it as being his own boss, but still working for the company.

He said the skills he learned over the years have opened doors to employment opportunities, such as starting a business, working in mills or factories, and more.

“A fab shop, I mean, a fab shop really has everything that this class has. From the design of what you’re going to make– say you’re making a table, you have to design that and cut it out on the CMC program, and then you have a welder, which we do that.”