RIDGECREST — Concordia Parish Academy’s top welder said she is proof that girls can do whatever guys can do.

Kaylyn White, who will be starting 10th-grade at CPA this school year, said she picked up a welding class over the summer with approximately 15 other students.

Most of them were guys, she said.

“Welding is really a challenge,” White said. “To weld, you use fire, of course, and you also have all of this protective gear on. Imagine being in the heat with gloves, a jacket and goggles on. There is also a lot of heavy lifting involved, too. … I enjoy it because I get to show people that girls can do whatever guys can do.”

By the end of the course, White said she was named the Top Welder in her class.

She not only learned to cut through thick metal piping using a hot flame generated by a heavy piece of machinery, White said, but also how to carve out her name into a small metal plate.

In addition to welding, White said she is the baton-twirling captain in the Ferriday High School Band, which is organized jointly by CPA, Ferriday and Vidalia high schools.

White is also enrolled into a talent program for singing and is a member of the National Beta Club, she said.

White said she sings in her church choir at Zion Hill Baptist Church and also enjoys dance, listening to music and helping others solve everyday problems.

When she graduates, White said she hopes to go to nursing school.

“I want to be a nurse because I like the feeling of having to think on your feet to treat a patient’s wounds,” she said.

White is the daughter of Andrea Foster.