Mississippi State Assistant Professor of Architecture JassenCallender, who grew up in the Heuck’s Retreat area, didn’t tell hisstudents when they came to Brookhaven on Wednesday that they werevisiting his hometown.

Nor did he tell them that 35 years ago his father, DaleCallender, had worked for the very business where they were goingto learn the tricks of the welding trade during a tour.

Callender and his group of fifth-year senior architecturestudents took a tour of B&O Welding on Wednesday afternoon, andCallender said it’s for a very specific reason.

“Where this helps them is that when they sit down to draw adetail, now they’ll be somewhat sympathetic with a person who hasto actually build it,” he said. “It helps them to understand theconstruction angle and what the limitations are. It’s very easy todraw a weld joint perfectly.”

B&O President James Minter said the arrangement is a win-winsituation for him as well. While the students get to learn aboutwhat goes into the welding job, they also remember his company whenthe time comes for them to begin working on their own projects.

“These are the people that will be specifying in years to comeabout building projects,” he said. “We want them to use us as aresource.”

Cleveland native Whitney Grant, 23, got to try her hand at acouple of different kinds of welding while the 16 students touredthe facility. She said she needed the skills practice because shewill soon be part of a project to build a pavilion called MockbeePavilion in Canton.

“Some of us don’t get our hands on the project, but I in part,plan to,” she said.

It was an interesting experience too, Grant said. It took her asecond to figure out what to compare it to.

“This is the first time I’ve ever cut metal with a tool,” shesaid. “It kind of feels like cutting butter with a hot knife.”

The MSU architecture program allows students four years inStarkville at the main campus and then they relocate to Jackson fortheir fifth year in order to be somewhere with a more urban feel.Callender said he has 44 students in the class this year, but theyare in the middle of working on their thesis projects, so the 16 hehad were the only ones who had time to make it.

“The normal student works 50-60 hours a week on their thesisalone,” he said. “For some of them it just wasn’t possible to takethe time away.”

And during the course of their fifth year, students visit allsorts of places connected to the construction and architectureindustry, learning about concrete and brick work, as well aswelding and other important processes. The hands-on work helps themknow what to expect when they hit the real world.

“Most of them walk away saying this was the most valuable oftheir five years,” Callender said.

Minter agreed, saying that while so much of the architecturebusiness centers around actual design, the hands-on approach canreally put an architect head and shoulders above others in his orher field.

“Most of them are sitting at a computer, and they don’t realizewhat they can do with their own hands,” he said.

The group toured downtown after their foray through B&O,looking at some of the projects B&O has completed, like astairwell at the Mississippi School of the Arts, supports for thenew marquee at the Haven Theater, and several of the railings onupstairs businesses and apartments in the downtown Brookhavenarea.