Tour bus with welders from Wyoming stops in Idaho Falls to visit students – East Idaho News

IDAHO FALLS — With a tour bus, welding rig and thrilling giveaways, a bunch of welders from Wyoming stopped at a technical schooling college on Wednesday.

Western Welding Academy, situated in Gillette, Wyoming, excursions throughout the nation in what’s known as “The Blue Collar Tour” and stopped at Idaho Falls Faculty District 91’s Profession & Technical Schooling Heart (CTEC).

“The Blue Collar Tour is all about going round and telling blue-collar tales and provoking this subsequent era of children to work with their palms and go to tech faculties, be a part of a union, or be a part of a commerce,” stated Tyler Sasse, founder and president of Western Welding Academy. “(It’s) largely all about inspiration for these youngsters, that they’ve what it takes.”

CTEC college students requested the group to return. Trevor Shepherd, a welding instructor at CTEC, did what he might to get the tour in Idaho Falls.

“I utilized for it, and so they reached out to us, and so they stated they needed to return to us for the one cease in Idaho this yr,” Shepherd stated.

Shepherd is aware of the significance of welding and says the world revolves round it with vehicles, buildings and infrastructure. He stated it’s essential for college kids to study and have alternatives.

“We’d like welders on the planet. It’s in excessive demand. Everybody you speak to — all of the native weld retailers round right here — all of them want folks. They’re all struggling to maintain their slots stuffed, so we try to carry up this subsequent era and introduce them to trades and get them interested by it,” Shepherd stated.

Sasse stated the tour travels coast to coast to 30 completely different faculties in 30 states in about 10 weeks. They inform college students in regards to the academy, and Sasse offers a stay presentation of how one can weld two items of pipe collectively.

For college kids like 18-year-old Elijah Meacham, a senior at CTEC, it offers him possibilities to ask questions.

“Demos are studying alternatives as a result of for those who watch them do one thing, and also you say, ‘How do you do this?’ Then they are going to inform you,” he stated.

Meacham informed EastIdahoNews.com he’s grateful for a faculty like CTEC, which supplies him loads of studying alternatives just like the Blue Collar Tour.

“We’ve folks are available in at the least twice each month. We hear about scholarships and superior studying alternatives. We’ve a number of courses that we now have been informed about,” he stated. “A number of folks from Idaho Metal have reached out to us and have given us shows and informed us about scholarships and internships that they’ve.”

Meacham stated he’s been a blacksmith for slightly over three years. He likes constructing go-karts and dealing on different tasks that want welding, so it was a pure step for him to study.

“There’s a whole lot of alternatives in welding. Welding is a very tough course of to robotize, so there’s going to be a whole lot of jobs, a whole lot of actually well-paying jobs for an extended, very long time,” Meacham stated.

Sasse stated assembly with college students is unbelievable.

“(Happening tour) actually permits us time to attach with the youth and see among the struggles that they’re combating and incorporate that into our curriculum and how one can make them extra profitable. Our large focus is figure ethic, accountability and integrity,” Sasse stated.

Idaho Falls was the Blue Collar Tour’s second cease. Its first cease was at East Helena Excessive Faculty in Montana on Tuesday. The following cease is in Fort Rock, Washington, on Friday. The tour ends in late February. Click on right here to study extra.