TWIN FALLS — Twin Falls High School has opened a newly expanded welding and agriculture facility, giving Magic Valley students more shop space to train for careers after graduation.

KMVT reported the completed facility on Sept. 14, 2026. The project was funded in part by a nearly $1.1 million Idaho Career Ready Students Council grant. Twin Falls School District previously announced that $1,060,880 Career Ready Students award in August 2024 to expand welding and agriculture programs at Twin Falls High School.

More booths, bigger projects

Welding instructor Joe Woodland told KMVT the program has grown into a standing waitlist, with 100 to 150 students or more trying to get into Welding 1 each year. He now teaches about 95 students. The new space adds 10 welding booths, which should let more students enroll and give those already in the program room for larger builds.

“It’s exciting to be able to actually build something of size and not just the little small toolboxes or stuff like that,” Woodland said. “We’ll be able to enhance for the kids to give them more of a real-world experience.”

Eleventh-grader Donovan Buell told KMVT the extra shop already matters for advanced classes. “Having this extra shop, it gives the welding 3 kids more space to get into a bigger space,” Buell said. “There’s going to be more room for more kids to get into the welding program. We were turning down a lot of kids to get into welding because of it, and now we’re going to get a lot more kids into it.”

Buell said he has welded since age eight and sees the trade as a possible career. Woodland’s goal is a head start whether students go straight to work, keep training, or continue in school: “I want to give the kids an opportunity to be able to build something, see it going down the road, or see it in the community and say, I did that.”

Students helped build it

Earlier in 2026, Twin Falls High School construction-technology students worked alongside contractors on the welding facility itself. Idaho News 6 reported that capstone students helped with foundation and rebar, pour days, and framing, including restroom work for the expansion, under construction-technology teacher Cameron Hoge and with Star Corp crews. That hands-on build was framed as one of the program’s largest student job-site assignments to date.

For families watching Twin Falls and the Magic Valley, the takeaway is practical: Career Ready Students grant dollars plus local CTE programs are translating into a finished shop with more welding booths and room for larger student projects — the kind of school infrastructure that supports workforce pathways in a growing region.

Project Quick Facts:

• Project: Twin Falls High School expanded welding and agriculture facility
• Location: Twin Falls, Idaho (Twin Falls High School)
• Funding: Nearly $1.1 million Idaho Career Ready Students Council grant (district announced $1,060,880 award in August 2024)
• Program: Welding CTE led by instructor Joe Woodland; about 95 students; waitlist historically 100–150+ for Welding 1
• Capacity upgrade: Adds 10 welding booths; more space for larger student projects
• Build note: Twin Falls High construction-technology students assisted contractors on the facility earlier in 2026
• News peg: Facility completed / newly open as reported by KMVT on Sept. 14, 2026

Photo credit: Photo: Courtesy KMVT / Penelope Anderson — students working in Twin Falls High School’s welding and fabrication shop.

Sources: KMVT, “New welding facility now open at Twin Falls High School” (Sept. 14, 2026); Twin Falls School District, “Twin Falls School District Receives Major Grant to Expand Career Technical Education Programs” (Aug. 19, 2024); Idaho News 6 / KIVI, “Students help construct school’s new welding facility through construction technology program” (Feb. 19, 2026).