Jim Hill student Jakiyah Honer, 17, participates in the 2024 High School Welding Competition held at Delta Technical College in Ridgeland, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

Students from across the state competed in the 2024 High School Welding Competition held at Delta Technical College in Ridgeland. Every competition participant will receive a $500 Delta Tech scholarship plus an opportunity to enroll in one of the college’s welding programs.

“All of you are being offered an opportunity to have a career, not a job,” the students were told during orientation. “You have a job doing fast food. This can be a career for where you make over $100,000 a year.”

The winner of the competition will receive a $5,000 scholarship to Delta Technical College. One thousand dollars will be donated to his or her high school welding department. Second and third prize winners will receive DTC scholarships towards welding training at the college.

  • Students from across the state prepare to compete in the 2024 High School Welding Competition held at Delta Technical College in Ridgeland, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. Every competition participant will receive a $500 Delta Tech scholarship plus an opportunity to enroll in one of the college’s welding programs. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
  • A student looks over the tasked project for the welding competition held at Delta Technical College, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
  • Parker Manning (left), the winner of last year’s welding competition, and ambassador during this year’s competition, advises Florence high schooler Griffin Bonner, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
  • Florence high schooler Griffin Bonner, participates in a welding competition held at Delta Technical College, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024 in Ridgeland. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
  • Parker Manning (left), the winner of last year’s welding competition, and ambassador during this year’s competition, observes Florence high schooler Griffin Bonner perform a tack weld, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
  • Students from across the state competed in the 2024 High School Welding Competition held at Delta Technical College in Ridgeland, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
  • Murrah student Nicholas McGlorthan, 18, participates in the 2024 High School Welding Competition held at Delta Technical College in Ridgeland, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
  • Scott Central student Heath Rhodes, 18, tack welds during the 2024 High School Welding Competition held at Delta Technical College in Ridgeland, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
  • Jim Hill student Jakiyah Honer, 17, participates in the 2024 High School Welding Competition held at Delta Technical College in Ridgeland, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
  • High school students from across the state competed in the a welding Competition held at Delta Technical College in Ridgeland, Thursday, Feb. 29, 2024. Every competition participant will receive a $500 Delta Tech scholarship plus an opportunity to enroll in one of the college’s welding programs. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today

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Vickie King has experience as a professional photographer spanning 35 years- from childhood purchasing her first camera by selling flower seeds to neighbors, as a stringer for Associated Press in Des Moines, Iowa, a freelancer shooting an album cover to your loved one’s wedding, and your kids and pets at a J.C. Penney portrait studio. She joins the Mississippi Today team as a photojournalist.

A native Mississippian and resident of Jackson, Vickie was born in Laurel.
You know her work from years as a staff photographer for the Clarion-Ledger. Her award-winning photography has appeared in such publications as the New York Times, Editor & Publisher Magazine, People Magazine, in national news broadcasts, and books depicting the devastation of Hurricane Katrina to the glory of Ole Miss football.

Most recently, she is the former photographer, Special Projects Officer IV, Staff Officer I, videographer, and online content producer for the Mississippi Department of Corrections. She is also a Pulitzer Prize nominee for Spot News.

Vickie is a graduate of Simpson College, where she earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in Media Relations.