Latest news with #BlueCollarTour
Yahoo
08-03-2025
- Automotive
- Yahoo
Hands-on event exposes next generation to trade professions
The 2025 Blue Collar Tour hits 30 schools across the country in 60 days. Aiming to get high school students interested in blue-collar trades, the tour hit its 25th school, Marysville High School, on Tuesday. This traveling event gives students a taste of the skill and pride that go into blue-collar work. The Blue Collar Tour shows that choosing a trade is choosing a path to a strong, successful future, according to the tour's website. The event includes hands-on welding demonstrations and giveaways. It's an event that is free for schools; it is put on by the Western Welding Academy, thanks to sponsors. At the Marysville stop, a booth canopy tent brought by the tour read, 'Forget college debt. Join a trade!' Also signaling a certain confidence, the hype man for the Blue Collar Tour, Quacy Wilson, grabbed students' attention with enthusiasm. 'When I say blue collar, you say tour,' Wilson yelled. 'Blue collar! 'Tour!'' According to Jake Wheeler, Marysville High School welding instructor, about 200 to 250 students attended the Marysville High School event, some of whom were from other schools. 'Sutter, East Nic, Live Oak, Yuba Charter, Nevada Union and Yuba City,' Wheeler said, listing the other schools that had students in attendance. Wheeler played a role in bringing the tour to Marysville. He encouraged students to apply online and sent an online form to try to attract the opportunity. Students and teachers can request that the tour stop at their school at For the most part, students in his shop class have some interest in trades. 'My job is to try to get that spark a little bit farther to see if I can get them to really take that career on,' Wheeler said. Wheeler appreciates seeing the kids figure something out. 'Showing them that they have something inside of them that they didn't know and they're able to actually do something with their hands,' Wheeler said. Wheeler spoke about the purpose and significance of the occasion. 'Showing the kids that, hey, there's fun things in this trade – get involved and see where it can take you,' Wheeler said. 'If there's money to be made, might as well have you make it.' Wilson said you can make a good living in a blue-collar world. 'And we need them. We need plumbers. We need machinists. We need carpenters, electricians – all of it, right?' Wilson said. 'Something hits the fan, and something breaks. Who shows up? Blue collar people.' Wilson and others on the tour demonstrate dedication to this promotion. 'You're on a tour bus with nine other people. Five days a week, you live on the bus,' Wilson, who is from Gillette, Wyoming, said. 'There's no showers. There are no bathrooms – it's a dedication. It's full-time and a commitment, but it's not about us. It's about the next generation. Of teaching them why they need to be getting into this.' Students have been very receptive. 'They love it. It's cool to see their eyes light up,' Wilson said. One high school senior at the Marysville stop, Dalton Oilar, said he learned about Tungsten inert gas (TIG) welding at the event. 'I've never personally TIG welded, so it's cool to learn about,' Oilar said. Working on ranches, Oilar said, he'll always have the need for welding stuff. 'Everything breaks, and it's good to know how to weld it back together and fix things so it can save you a lot of money in the long run,' Oilar said. Next year, Oilar plans to go to Feather River College to study a course of science in equine and ranch management.
Chicago Tribune
06-02-2025
- Business
- Chicago Tribune
With welders in short supply, Blue Collar Tour makes pitch to students with stop at Elgin High School
Wyoming-based Western Welding Academy's Blue Collar Tour made a stop at Elgin High School Wednesday, offering demonstrations, hands-on learning experiences and motivational talks to spark student interest in the trades. 'We hope the tour inspires students to pursue blue collar trades,' said Quacy Wilson, the academy's director of student selection. 'They're the backbone of our country and are important.' Wilson said the tour was making its way through 32 high schools across the country in 60 days. With an estimated shortage of about 400,000 welders nationally, getting students to take up the profession is imperative, he said. More than 200 students attended the event — about 100 from Elgin-based School District U-46 and another 100 or so from Hampshire, Burlington Central and Lockport Township high schools. Students involved with Elgin High School's 'Maroon Buzz' YouTube channel documented the proceedings. Myka Kennedy, U-46 assistant director of post-secondary success, said they have about 100 students from its five high schools taking part in the welding program at Elgin High School. The tour making a stop in Elgin was a first-of-its-kind offering for the district, Kennedy and Elgin High Assistant Principal Jeremy Burnham said. Their hope is it inspires students to check out the profession while drawing attention to their efforts to offer trades training, they said. 'It's nice to drive a specialty like this (tour) here,' Burnham said. U-46 is committed to getting students to think about what they want to do after high school by introducing them to a variety of professions, including those in the trades. To that enrollment, eight buses of U-46 students recently toured a variety of local workplaces, Kennedy said, and last summer the district partnered with nonprofit Alignment for Collaborative Education and local businesses to offer 100 paid internships in various fields, including manufacturing and the trades. They hope to offer 200 internships this summer, Kennedy said. Having students from other district high schools participate was a good way to demonstrate that U-46 can work with other districts on such programming, she said. U-46 welding program students Ryan Reyes and Robert Capuzi said the tour stop gave them a chance to pick up pointers and build their skills. Reyes, 18, of Hanover Park, is a senior at Bartlett High School and Capuzi, 17, of Elgin, is a senior at Elgin High. Capuzi said he likes that welding classes are active and don't require him to sit in a chair to learn. He plans to study engineering at a four-year college in the fall but will keep up his welding skills either as a hobby or a way to help pay for his education, he said. Reyes said he wants to secure a union apprenticeship in welding so he can work locally or possibly as a pipeline welder, which would require a lot of travel. 'I like that welding is about how-to-do, hands-on and not a typical 9-to-5 job,' he said. Mike Danahey is a freelance reporter for The Courier-News.
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Siouxland high schoolers learn about welding
SOUTH SIOUX CITY, Neb. (KCAU) — On Wednesday, students from around Siouxland gathered in South Sioux City to get a glimpse of what it's like to earn a living under a welding hood. 'Western Welding Academy, we're traveling around the country to 30-plus high schools in 60 days teaching the kids the importance of the blue collar trades' said Quacy Wilson with the Blue Collar Tour. Several high schoolers were given a hands-on demonstration by certified welders. 'It's super important to let these kids know that college is not the only option out there, that the trades are super important and they're the backbone of our country,' Wilson said. 'It's our job at Western Welding Academy to build a better generation.' New autism center to open in South Sioux City Wilson also said that welding is for any student who thinks college may not be the right fit for them and wants to consider the trade industry as a career. 'We're short 400,000 welders as it is,' he said. 'Even if the top welding schools in the country gradate with a thousand kids a year. we would never fill the supply we need. They're very important. We are sponsored by Build Submarines ,which is a department of the Navy. They're trying to build two submarines a year, and they don't have the workers to do it.' One student from South Sioux City said he is planning on going into the trade business when he is out of high school, as he was inspired by his mother. 'She started welding and I mean, she's the only person I look up to,' student Cesar Luvya Marquez said. 'It's what I'm going to start doing.' Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
