ECC Welding Students Excel Through Mentorship, Training

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With business thriving and skilled welders in demand, Advance Lifts, a St. Charles, Illinois-based machining manufacturer, was looking to grow its workforce. Vice President of Production Kenny Sathiyayani reached out to an industry professional he trusted for recommendations – Elgin Community College (ECC) Welding Professor Dave Reich. 

Reich knew he had students ready for the opportunity. Over the past year, he recommended several ECC welding students to Advance Lifts, including: Jasmin De La Torre, Lilly Rutter, Everley Simon, and Joseph Lortie.

The partnership has been a win-win for ECC and Advance Lifts.

“My focus has been building that talent base, diversifying it, increasing the skill set among that talent base, through organizations like ECC,” Sathiyayani said about recruiting talent. 

Jasmin De La Torre

In September 2025, Advance Lifts hired Jasmin De La Torre, who became the second female welder from ECC to join the team. Although her job title is welder, she also works in fabrication. De La Torre has been welding for more than two years and has learned many of her techniques from Reich’s classes.

She said Reich has pushed her to improve her craft, while emphasizing the importance of gaining work experience.

Working at Advance Lifts has also shown De La Torre how different welding can be in an industrial setting compared with the more controlled environment of an ECC classroom. This fall, she will continue building her skills in ECC’s new Manufacturing and Technology Center (MTC), where she is looking forward to learning in a larger, more technologically advanced space.

De La Torre will take two classes this fall: cutting processes and MIG (gas metal arc welding) qualifications. 

Joseph Lortie

Joseph Lortie joined the Advance Lifts team as a welder in December 2025. Three months in, he began operating the laser cutter and is now a plasma operator. Lortie is completing his last ECC class this summer and will earn an associate degree in welding and fabrication technology. 

“The biggest thing I’ve learned here is time management,” said Lortie on his time so far at Advance Lifts. “I try to be as efficient as possible.”

Looking back, he said he found  Reich’s welding classes highly technical and extremely difficult at the time. Now that he’s applying those lessons in the workplace, he appreciates how well they prepared him for the job. Welding is now “super easy.” 

Lilly Rutter

Lily Rutter began work at Advance Lifts in March 2026. She was initially hired as a welder, but the company soon recognized an opportunity to expand her skills and asked if she would like to be trained in CNC (computer numerical control) programming.

Sathiyayani said Advance Lifts values employees who can develop skills across multiple areas, and Rutter demonstrated the potential to do just that.

“We saw potential in her,” he said. “We saw a hole we needed to fill. We recognized that she could do it; we moved her. She’s learning and doing well.” 

At ECC,  Reich recognized that same potential in the classroom. He said Rutter consistently showed up early to classes and demonstrated a good work ethic. Those qualities influenced him to recommend her for a position at Advance Lifts. 

Rutter is looking forward to continuing to take welding classes at ECC this fall. One of her long-term goals is to join a welding union, and she expects to complete her welding certificate in about a year. 

The relationship between ECC and Advance Lifts extends beyond hiring students. Advance Lifts recently contributed $10,000 toward ECC’s new Manufacturing and Technology Center, further supporting the college’s efforts to prepare students for careers in manufacturing and the skilled trades.

Partnerships like this also complement the work of ECC’s Workforce Development department, which connects students and employers through apprenticeship and internship opportunities. These programs allow students to pursue their education while working an industry job they desire to have when they graduate. 

For students such as Simon, De La Torre, Lortie, and Rutter, the connection between the classroom and the workplace is already taking shape – allowing them to build their skills, gain experience, and begin their careers while completing their education.