Mike Rowe offering scholarship for people who want to go to trade school

by Kate Streit - DontWasteYourMoney.com


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If you or someone you know is interested in a job in the trades — such as plumbing, electrical work or welding — former “Dirty Jobs” host Mike Rowe is offering a scholarship program through his charitable foundation that will offer money for skilled jobs training.

This is the fifth year in a row that the organization has offered its work ethic scholarship, which is taking applications through June 4.

The amount awarded has not been specified in terms of dollars, but the organization refers to it as a “pile of money” and, in a video announcing the 2018 scholarship, Rowe said the foundation has at least $500,000 to give away.

Over the years, Rowe says the scholarship program has given away about $5 million so far.

Are You Eligible?

There are a number of requirements in order to apply for the work ethic scholarship.

According to The Penny Hoarder, applicants need to be a high school senior, graduate or GED recipient, who are enrolled, or planning to enroll, in a vocational school and planning to graduate after Dec. 1, 2018.

On the official page for the scholarship contest, it states that all applicants must sign Rowe’s “S.W.E.A.T. Pledge,” a 12-point treatise designed to hold its signer to Rowe’s own standards of what makes someone worthy of such a gift.

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Applicants must also have at least two references, excluding family members.

They must also submit an essay about why they want to work in the trades and what makes them deserving of the scholarship, along with a short video that helps make their case.

https://i.imgur.com/x7jD2sEl.jpg

“Why are you drawn to the skilled trades? Why do you deserve to receive an award? Let us know any accomplishments or anything you do that shows that you believe in the S.W.E.A.T. Pledge,” according to the scholarship website. “For example, do you volunteer, or were you an Eagle Scout? Do you put in extra hours helping other students or mentoring kids?”

Attendance records are not required but are preferred.

https://i.imgur.com/sqo1ZCVl.jpg

“Bottom line – work ethic scholarships are for people who are hungry to learn a skill that’s in demand—it’s for the people who wake up early, stay late, and bust their ass day in and day out. Naturally, people like this are hard to find, but they’re out there,” according to the scholarship website.

Do you have what Rowe’s foundation is looking for?

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Rowe’s goal is to help people get trained for skilled job that actually exist, according to the foundation’s website. He believes there’s too much student loan debt and that we should challenge “the absurd belief that a four-year degree is the only path to success.”

This is a topic Rowe is very passionate about – he frequently speaks about this idea in public.

“As CEO of the foundation … Rowe spends a significant amount of time speaking about the country’s dysfunctional relationship with work, highlighting the widening skills gap, and challenging the persistent belief that a four-year degree is automatically the best path for the most people,” according to the site.

You can hear more of his thoughts on the so-called skills gap in this video:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KK8QnrXJFNc

Past scholarship winners include Jacob Nohai who is studying heavy equipment operation with help from Rowe’s foundation:

https://i.imgur.com/blhfdPH.png

Another past winner is Antoinette Jackson, who us studying general automotives at a community college.

https://i.imgur.com/lDQawXu.png

How To Apply

If you meet the qualifications and are interested in applying, follow the link to sign up at the bottom of the work ethic scholarship page on the foundation’s website.

Do you know someone who’s interested in trade work? Be sure to pass this along to them to help them pay for school!

Good ol' Mike.. :thumbsup:

He is such an awesome human being.

Love this dude

And he's right on the money with a program like this. So many kids waste time and money going to college all so they can end up working at Starbuck's with $100K+ in student loan debt.

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Originally Posted by Teh One Who Knocks

And he's right on the money with a program like this. So many kids waste time and money going to college all so they can end up working at Starbuck's with $100K+ in student loan debt.

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:qft:

too many parents push kids into college instead of letting them figure out what they want to do :shrug:

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Originally Posted by deebakes

too many parents push kids into college instead of letting them figure out what they want to do :shrug:

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A case in point, my boss's oldest daughter. And this is a big point of contention between my boss and his wife. His wife was adamant that they were going to pay to send both girls to college and pay for it 100%, no matter how long they wanted to go for. The oldest (I believe she just turned 25) is a sweet girl, but she is dumber than a box of rocks and the epitome of a 'special snowflake'. She went to a 4 year school, barely graduated, but got her degree in a field that is narrow in scope and takes someone with skill and ambition and a real passion for it to succeed in. She's the exact opposite of that. She has no ambition, doesn't want to work, claims to have "anxiety" over everything, and needs to still 'find herself', and cannot take ANY criticism about her life without breaking down and thinking the whole world is out to get her. She believes in all the really hokey "self help gurus" and holistic crap, yet she still is "lost" according to her. Since she didn't want a job, she went to school for another two years, fully paid for by my boss and his wife (and my boss was even more upset about this than he was the first 4 years). Again, she barely graduated, but the school set her up with an interneship that turned into a job. She promptly quit that job without telling anyone. Instead, she started a Facebook page where she's going to make 'motivational' videos and solicit people to pay her for advice sessions (she can't call it therapy because she's not licensed in anything). So far, she made one video and it was horrendously stupid.

As I said, she it the definition of a special snowflake and a lazy millennial. Of course this stems from her mother giving her everything and anything and coddling her. She's still super defensive about her "baby" and my boss can't say anything without a big fight and being accused of not supporting her (the daughter). This girl has no skills, no ambition, and she wants to be paid to do nothing. This is the future of the world and this isn't an isolated case, it just happens to be one I've watched unfold firsthand as I've worked here and been around their family and watched her grow up and hear the stories from my boss. He really just wants to cut ties with her and let her finally find out what life is like on her own and let her sink or swim (she'll sink like the Titanic, only a lot faster). Her mother gives her money, gets her anything she wants, and believe me, there's a lot more she gets that I haven't even mentioned here.

At this point, I dunno if this girl will ever be productive in anything.

Is she pretty?

Not especially, no. I would say she's average at best on a good day.

A lot of girls used to go to college to get an MRS degree. I know that's considered a repulsive and misogynistic idea these days, but that girl needs to find a man.

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Originally Posted by deebakes

too many parents push kids into college instead of letting them figure out what they want to do :shrug:

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Not only parents, teachers throughout primary school age pound it into their little heads, media in general, society as a whole looks down their noses at the "trades". Plumbers are a good example of being the butt of all jokes on tv, etc,
Plumbers, especially independents, can make serous income. Good paying skilled jobs are in high demand and only going to get more so. The number of children being raised that can't even change a lightbulb, do their own laundry, pump gas and a million other basic "skills" tasks is huge and growing, especially in comparison to 30+ years ago.

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Originally Posted by Teh One Who Knocks

A case in point, my boss's oldest daughter. And this is a big point of contention between my boss and his wife. His wife was adamant that they were going to pay to send both girls to college and pay for it 100%, no matter how long they wanted to go for. The oldest (I believe she just turned 25) is a sweet girl, but she is dumber than a box of rocks and the epitome of a 'special snowflake'. She went to a 4 year school, barely graduated, but got her degree in a field that is narrow in scope and takes someone with skill and ambition and a real passion for it to succeed in. She's the exact opposite of that. She has no ambition, doesn't want to work, claims to have "anxiety" over everything, and needs to still 'find herself', and cannot take ANY criticism about her life without breaking down and thinking the whole world is out to get her. She believes in all the really hokey "self help gurus" and holistic crap, yet she still is "lost" according to her. Since she didn't want a job, she went to school for another two years, fully paid for by my boss and his wife (and my boss was even more upset about this than he was the first 4 years). Again, she barely graduated, but the school set her up with an interneship that turned into a job. She promptly quit that job without telling anyone. Instead, she started a Facebook page where she's going to make 'motivational' videos and solicit people to pay her for advice sessions (she can't call it therapy because she's not licensed in anything). So far, she made one video and it was horrendously stupid.

As I said, she it the definition of a special snowflake and a lazy millennial. Of course this stems from her mother giving her everything and anything and coddling her. She's still super defensive about her "baby" and my boss can't say anything without a big fight and being accused of not supporting her (the daughter). This girl has no skills, no ambition, and she wants to be paid to do nothing. This is the future of the world and this isn't an isolated case, it just happens to be one I've watched unfold firsthand as I've worked here and been around their family and watched her grow up and hear the stories from my boss. He really just wants to cut ties with her and let her finally find out what life is like on her own and let her sink or swim (she'll sink like the Titanic, only a lot faster). Her mother gives her money, gets her anything she wants, and believe me, there's a lot more she gets that I haven't even mentioned here.

At this point, I dunno if this girl will ever be productive in anything.

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I swear I've heard nearly the exact same story from more than one other person before. It's scary that these kids are "our future".

excellent points pony, i was thinking more from my own experience and that with my kids not thinking about the 'external' influences.

one of my high school classmates is a master plumber, he never would have succeeded had he gone to college for a degree. that being said, he has major problems with alcohol and can't keep a job despite being really good at plumbing and made decent money doing it. if he could get his shit together, he could do really well for himself.