By JULIE CARLE
BG Independent News
Alivia Cox was the quintessential little girl who wanted a pony. But for Alivia, it was not just a passing fancy; horses became her world.
It started when she saw a horse on a television show. “I would not stop bothering my mom about it,” she said. “Next thing I knew I had every single horse Barbie and horse toy you could have. She signed me up for lessons, and after that, she couldn’t get me away from them.”
During and after COVID, her days consisted of online classes and spending the rest of the time in the barn caring for her horses. “I didn’t see people my own age, so my parents decided it was time to go back to school,” she said.
Her love of horses and a desire to learn more about agriculture led Alivia to Eastwood High School and the FFA as a freshman.
“I didn’t grow up around people who knew about horses and agriculture,” she said. Her father is an accountant, and her mother is a nurse.
“Because of my interest in horses and my desire to be an equine chiropractor, my dad thought it would be good for me to attend a high school that had FFA and agriculture classes,” she explained. “We found a house in the Eastwood district and moved here because they are known for their FFA chapter.”
The move proved to be fortuitous for Alivia.
She became active in the FFA under the leadership of Eastwood ag teacher Jerry Swartz and with like-minded peers.
“Oh my gosh! FFA has done so much for me,” Alivia said. The self-proclaimed introvert said she learned public speaking and how to communicate better with people thanks to FFA.
Being an officer—vice president during her senior year and secretary the previous year—“That’s definitely what helped me the most,” she said.
“My original plan was to go to college to be an equine chiropractor because obviously I wanted to do something with horses and I was really fascinated by it,” Alivia said. That changed when Ohio laws required a doctorate to be a chiropractor. “It would have been 12 years of school, and I just couldn’t imagine doing that,” she admitted.
An introduction to welding in FFA changed the trajectory of this horse-loving, rodeo barrel-racing girl. While learning the basics of welding, her teacher was surprised that she had never done it before. “You are actually pretty good at it,” Swartz told her.
“I kind of liked doing it,” she said, but figured she would “keep it in my back pocket as a cool hobby.”
During a meeting before her senior year, she learned about a welding class in Bowling Green that some of her friends liked and recommended.
It didn’t take long for her to realize welding is what she wanted to do. She became extremely involved, and it changed her post-high school plans.
Collin Jones, who taught the Penta welding program in Bowling Green, “has done so much for me and all of his students,” she said. Through the one-year program, she earned multiple welding certifications, as well as electrical, forklift, OSHA and pipefitting certifications.
Welding came naturally to Alivia. “I picked it up quicker and never really had to struggle to figure it out,” she said. “So I was kind of drawn to it.”
Through it all, she realized, “Even though I wanted to do something with horses, I could have the best of both worlds. I could make good money doing welding right of school to be able to afford my horses and have more financial freedom.”
She plans to work all summer before leaving Ohio in late fall to attend the highly ranked Western Welding Academy in Gillette, Wyoming. “That way I can make decent money, and I don’t miss rodeo season,” she said.
TIG welding, welding with heat but without the spark, is in her wheelhouse. “It’s the weld that is made to be more pretty than to be able to hold structures,” she explained.
The idea of being a woman in a man-dominated field doesn’t scare her. In fact, the challenge of being a woman in the industry motivates her. “Automatically people doubt your abilities as a woman, but if you prove them wrong, you earn their respect.” With her speed, attention to detail, and ability to work well with others, she hopes to make her mark in the field.
The industry is changing. “It’s definitely a job that has a majority of men, but over the past five years, the number of women that have gone into welding has increased dramatically,” she said. “I can go somewhere, and there’s almost always at least one woman on the job site, if not more.
Once she’s graduated from the welding school, she hopes to do pipe welding to be able to travel and work with the pipelines. She may have to juggle the idea of having horses for a while as she gets herself settled and able to have the time and money to be back with her horses.
