Mike Rowe Work Ethic Scholarship

Mike Rowe has been a pioneer for encouraging students to choose a career in trades rather than going to college. The Mike Rowe Work Ethic Scholarship helps!

Mike Rowe Works Foundation

You may know Mike Rowe from his classic television show, “Dirty Jobs” or his newer endeavors on “Returning the Favor.” What you may not know is that Mike Rowe has his own 501(c) (3) charity, Mike Rowe Works Foundation. His foundation is committed to enabling individuals to gain skilled training to help fill the skilled laborer employment gap here in the United States. In turn, they do this through the Mike Rowe Work Ethic Scholarship Program. The Mike Rowe Scholarship is available for high school seniors, high school graduates, or those who have acquired a GED and is aspiring to start a career in a skilled trade.

Who is Mike Rowe?

Mike Rowe has been an advocate for trade schools ever since he went into a “dirty job” in every state in his show “Dirty Jobs.” In this show, Rowe worked all sorts of skilled trade laborers such as plumbers, electricians, steamfitters, pipe fitters, brick layers, farmers, fishers, and many others. From these experiences Rowe realized that trade workers weren’t what he thought. On the Mike Rowe Works Foundation website they state, “To his surprise, they didn’t resemble the unflattering, blue-collar workers often portrayed in the media. This misperception resulted in an undeniable disparity between available skilled jobs and the unemployed local population.” Because of this, he has made it his mission to redefine this for the nation and he is working towards this through the Mike Rowe Work Ethic Scholarship.

Skilled Laborer Shortage

This is all to help encourage more students get into a trade career which is lacking millions of employees. Rowe sums up the nations problem very well in a Facebook post, “6.2 million jobs that are currently vacant, the majority of which require training and specific skills – not an expensive, four-year degree. And yet we’re still telling our kids that college is the best path for most people. The result is $1.4 trillion dollars of outstanding student loans, a 50% college dropout rate, a legion of debt-ridden graduates who can’t find work in their chosen field, and millions of empty positions in dozens of technical industries.” Right now is perhaps the best time to enter into trade school and what better way to pay than with the Mike Rowe Work Ethic Scholarship.

Mike Rowe Work Ethic Scholarship Requirements

Although these are not all of the details, this is a short description of what you will need to do to qualify for Mike Rowe Works Foundation’s Work Ethic Scholarship:

Be enrolled or enrolling in an approved program by the Foundation
Read and sign the S.W.E.A.T. Pledge the Mike Rowe champions
Write answers to 3 different questions
Complete a short essay on the topic defined in the Mike Rowe Scholarship Application
Provide 2 or more references from teachers/bosses
Create a short video
Prove your school costs
Submit your high school or college transcript
Provide your financial situation

Mike Rowe Scholarship Award Amount

The Mike Rowe Works Foundation has compiled a large amount of money to award to multiple different students from across the country. Some of their sponsors for the scholarship are the Charles Koch Foundation, Maxwell House coffee, Wolverine, and more. Altogether, Mike Rowe’s foundation has raised over $400,000 to be awarded as educational scholarships. The award amount will vary from each recipient as it all depends on the student’s financial need and the price of their vocational education.

Previous Mike Rowe Work Ethic Scholarship recipient, Michael Gamez speaks about his experience as an aspiring skilled trade worker.

Important Dates of Mike Rowe Works Foundation’s Scholarship

Application period opens January 28, 2019
Application deadline March 28, 2019
Applicants must be enrolled in vocational education after December 31, 2018

To find the application and more information on Mike Rowe Works Foundation’s Work Ethic Scholarship or our own scholarship click the respective button below. As well as scholarship information, we can help you find the perfect school to become an auto mechanic so be sure to explore our site!

Work Ethic Scholarship

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