By Dennis Kellogg
WAHOO (SNR) – A young graduate of Bishop Neumann High School in Wahoo who died last year will be remembered for years to come, thanks to a new ag shop at the school.
The Landen Montanio Welding and Fabrication Learning Center was dedicated Wednesday, Oct. 5. The evening included a ceremony and tours of the new facility.
Landen Montanio died in a car crash in 2021 at the age of 19. He was a 2020 graduate of Bishop Neumann and previously attended St. Wenceslaus School in Wahoo.
Landen’s mother, Elizabeth Pavlik, began working on the idea to expand and upgrade the welding shop at the school in January. She met with Father Lee Jirovsky, chief administrative officer of the school, and Kurt Heideman, agricultural education instructor and Future Farmers of America (FFA) advisor, to determine the most pressing needs. Then she set out to get donations of money and equipment.
“God has a way of bringing blessings around through tragedy, through Landen’s death, and all the way I’ve asked God for guidance and direction and He’s been right there,” Pavlik said. “And I tell you when you work on a project with God, it’s pretty amazing, and we’re here today because of it.”
Pavlik said her faith has been an important part of her journey, not just to complete the project, but also to deal with her son’s death.
“I thought I had pretty strong faith until the passing of my son. And then when we started this project I really turned to God, leaned to God,” Pavlik told those gathered for the dedication.
Landen learned welding from his father, Mike Montanio, who owns his own business. He taught Landen welding and fabrication and the two spent many hours in the shop creating products. The skills he learned then turned into a passion he pursued in classes at Bishop Neumann.
Katie Donahue, ag educator at Raymond Central High School and former teacher at Bishop Neumann, taught Landen all four years he was in high school.
“Not only was he passionate about his own work, but he was also passionate about helping students,” Donahue said. “There were several times in class, even if he was trying to figure out a problem on his current project, that he would stop working to help the other students that were struggling when he saw I was busy.”
Donahue said when she heard about the plan to honor Landen with the upgrades to the welding shop at Bishop Neumann, “My first thought was, ‘Wow!’ What a huge project to undertake. And then my second thought was ‘what a perfect way to remember Landen.’”
The improvements include six new welding booths, new welding helmets, tables, ventilation system and electrical. The installation was just completed in the last few weeks.
“This is going to be on par with what industry would expect,” said Heideman, the ag education instructor. “In terms of the actual welding machines, this is top-of-the-line options that they can use going forward in their career. So they’ll be able to do three different types of welding processes within one machine so we can expand what we were able to do before, again helping students have a leg up in their career options.”
Bishop Neumann students won’t be the only ones to benefit from the upgraded facility. As part of a co-op agreement, Wahoo Public High School students also come over to Bishop Neumann to take part in the ag classes.
“It’s a wonderful experience that we have where we can offer agricultural education to both schools,” Heideman said. “And they bring over a wonderful group of students that are eager to learn and enjoy the agricultural industry, because welding is a part of what we do, and ag mechanics is a part of what we do. We offer other programs such as agricultural business, agronomy, nursery and landscaping, just to name a few and to be able to offer that across the community that has strong agricultural ties, and then we can bring resources from both locations, is a really strong advantage for our students here.”
Father Jirovsky told the crowd at the dedication he knew a student at St. Cecilia High School in Hastings who took welding classes at Central Community College while still in high school. The young man was able to graduate high school as a master welder and get a good-paying job.
Father Jirovsky said his goal is to have at least one student accomplish that at Bishop Neumann as well.
“We need more people like this, more people who are taking up these trades,” Father Jirovsky said. “They are great opportunities to be able to establish a life and a livelihood that can go forward.”
Landen’s mom, Elizabeth Pavlik, said she plans to continue to work with the school to do what she can to make sure the welding and fabrication program continues to thrive and provide opportunities for students.
“We’ve had several people already email us and come to us and say ‘How can we support this program?’ which is great,” Pavlik said.
Pavlik said she knows her son would be pleased to be remembered in this way.
“It would mean the world to him to see this right now and I know he can see it from Heaven,” she said. “It would mean everything to him because the footsteps he left are for students this year and many years to come to take those footsteps and go forward.”
