COLONIE — “This Old House,” a national home improvement show, recently filmed a segment at the Capital Region BOCES.
The segment featured the welding skills of Schalmont High School senior Francesco DelGallo and a project he has going to make goals for a backyard ice rink for his instructor’s 1864 Saratoga Springs home
“It’s really cool. I really enjoy welding and it’s cool that I get to show off my skills on a TV show,” DelGallo. “I never thought I would be doing a welding demonstration on national TV.”
Evan Williamson, a teacher at Schalmont High School, asked DelGallo to put his welding skills to work at his Saratoga Springs home that will be featured on “This Old House.”
When producers learned of DelGallo’s work on the ice rink goals, they wanted to include him. An eight-person production crew spent five hours on the campus preparing for and capturing footage of DelGallo and his classmates for an episode of the 43-year-old show that will air this summer.
With the camera’s rolling, “This Old House” host Kevin O’Connor and DelGallo were filmed in a “sit-down interview” in welding teacher Don Mattoon’s classroom before DelGallo invited the TV show host to “help” him fabricate and weld one of the hockey goals he is making.
Throughout the filming, DelGallo told O’Connor of his desire to join the family pool business and how coming to Capital Region BOCES was a life-changing event.
“I wanted to be a marine biologist. My goal was to be certified for SCUBA diving, which I am now certified in, and then go to college for it. I came to BOCES just to learn a skill to always have my back pocket, something to fall back on if I needed it. I started doing welding more and I realized I don’t want to be a marine biologist. Welding is my passion,” he said
The senior has been working on his goals — and the hockey goals — with the help of Mattoon and classmate Hunter Hebler, who joined the filming to help with pipe bending.
“It’s fun and pretty interesting,” Hebler, from Guilderland High School, said as he watched the filming.
The production crew had high praise for the students, Mattoon and the entire program.
“I love what Francesco is doing and I am happy to be able to do something to bring more young people to the trades,” said Christopher Ermides, a producer and editor of “This Old House.”
