Silke Jasso
Discovery Channel star Mike Rowe wants to help Americans get back to work, and he’s got a plan for how to do it. For the fourth year in a row, Rowe has launched the Work Ethic Scholarship Program, which provides scholarships to people who want to be trained for skilled jobs that are in demand.
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“Every year, we do a Work Ethic Scholarship,” he explained on Tuesday’s “Fox & Friends” episode. “It’s not huge, but we set aside 5 or 6 hundred grand, and we put it in a pile, and we invite people who want to learn a skill that’s actually in demand to make a case for themselves [such as] an essay, video, references.”
Applicants must sign a S.W.E.A.T. (Skill & Work Ethic Aren’t Taboo) pledge, “a solemn oath not to become a lazy, self-entitled drone who blames others for their troubles and expects to be taken care of.” Rowe called the pledge “an anthem to personal responsibility and accountability,” emphasizing that participants must be willing to work hard in a trade or skill that is in high demand.
“If you want to weld, you’re going to work,” he said. “We’ve trained a lot of kids, many of whom are making north of six figures. Carpentry, the construction trades — they’re all in demand right now […] if you can really operate a welding torch, and you’re willing to travel, you’re going to kill it.”
To Rowe, it’s important that people realize there are job opportunities out there in fields that may not be their “dream” but that could help them earn an honest living and develop a sought after skill. He encouraged people to give available jobs a try and to learn to love them.
“If your whole model for job satisfaction is based on finding your ‘dream job,’ right – it’s a bit like going out in the world and looking for your soul mate,” he said. “It’s difficult. Find the thing that’s available, be great at it and then figure out how to love it […] You have to work. You have to own it.”
