LIT provided a “vehicle” to opportunity for Hayden Burden

6/25/2019

attachment image-LIT provided a “vehicle” to opportunity for Hayden Burden

Beaumont – Hayden Burden, after a year and a half out of high school, was still working what seemed like “a million small jobs,” he recalled. The Nederland native never knew when he would work, if he would be employed, or how long a particular job would last.

Burden, the son of a pastor and retired school teacher, felt lost. He said he was working for a small sheet metal shop for “not very good pay. I was drifting from job to job, driving a truck on its last couple of miles, and the idea of buying a home wasn’t even a thought.

“I just knew a four-year college wasn’t for me.” But Burden did know he always loved to work with his hands and build things. His friends recommended Lamar Institute of Technology. The two-year college turned out to be the perfect “vehicle.” Burden graduated in 2018 with an AAS degree in Welding Technology.

“A week after I graduated, I got a job with a big firm! A year after, I’ve got a brand new truck, I’m buying a house and getting married,” he effused. Burden said he would recommend LIT to anyone interested in a career with rewarding pay and bright future.

“If you want a job around here and a good job, that’s the way to go,” he added. “Sure, you get normal teaching in the classroom,” but the instructors at LIT make the real difference, Burden said. They go beyond what is required: “They stay after hours to help you, they let you come in to practice after hours and even help you with getting jobs.” In fact, the former classmates he keeps in touch with resoundingly agree.

“Several of them got good jobs right out of school,” and are in a much better position, he said. LIT provided Burden with more than a reason to get up every day. The school provided him the hope, the opportunity for a brighter future and a means to get to where he wants to be in life.