BILLINGS — The 39th annual holiday parade took place in downtown Billings on Friday night; among the floats was one created by the students at the Career Center.

“We decided to have the welding kids create a welded UFO for us, and we’ll have aliens and people walking around with UFO umbrellas,” said Aurora Anttila, president and founder of the Career Center’s student advisory board.

This year’s parade theme was “out of this world”.

“It wasn’t necessarily horrible, but it was just, like I said, one pain to get it perfect,” said Robbie Mourich, a Career Center welding student who helped make the UFO fleet.

Passionate about his profession, Mourich said he appreciates the specialized classes at his school because he feels they will better prepare him for his future.

“It’s almost like an art. When you’re down there putting a bead or hitting a bow—I don’t know. It’s just something special, says Mourich.

One of 1,200 other Career Center students, he said he aspires to become a pipeline welder when he finishes his high school education.

“Sometimes I think about counting, because sometimes I tend to speed up. So sometimes I have to slow myself down. I mean, there are a number of things. Sometimes I sing a little song to myself,” Mourich said as he explained the welding process.

Rob Paul, Career Center social studies teacher and student guidance counselor, said he thinks the welding students “blew (the fleet) out of the ballpark.”