Ron Dennis Memorial Scholarship for the Trades

My name is Joshua Baldwin I grew up in a smaller town called Spurger Tx and then eventually I moved to Willis Texas where I have spent all my years going to school. I used to be in football and had dreams of going into the NFL but I had a bad knee injury that ruined that plan. So I had been doing some welding but I really got into it after my injury and I got into the AFJROTC program at my school. So I got the idea of going into the Military and being a welder for them but I couldn't pass the medical examination so that idea went out the window as well and that's when I decided I was gonna go to a trade school for professional welding. I have always had this really big interest for trades though. I don't feel like i belong in a office and a lot of my family has been in certain trades like welding which has really influenced me to want to go that route. I started welding when I was really young and I became very passionate for it to me it doesn't even feel like work it's something I truly love doing. I think in the future this will change my life for the greater good I will be able to wake and do what I love everyday as a job and make really good money doing it. Growing up my parents got a divorce when I was younger and my dad made lots of money but it was an office job and he hated it but now I live with my mom full time and my mom lives paycheck to paycheck but she went to a trade school for hair and she loves going to work everyday. If I am being honest I rather live paycheck to paycheck and wake up everyday and go to work still loving my job rather than making a lot of money but hating my job. Though for me I want to start my own business one day after I graduate from Tulsa welding school and make a little money I want to work for myself than eventually be able to grow a company out of that. This scholarship would help me be able to accomplish that goal and dream because even trade school is still expensive and it would help bring that cost down so I could get that jump on my goal.

my name is Reagan Ferguson, I am a 19-year-old college freshman soon to be sophomore who is studying at Blinn rellis for a bachelor's in business and an associate in the applied science of welding. in the upcoming years, my goal is to transfer to the mays business school at A&M while still getting my degree in welding. I pay my way through school with scholarships and work as a welder during summers. I want to pursue both of my degrees because even though I don't enjoy the traditional college I realize having a degree in business as well as a proper education in welding I can eventually start and operate my own welding business from the work standpoint and from the office/managerial standpoint. I believe that the trades have already changed my life as my passion for building and creating the objects in my mind has always interested me but as my skills have increased from shop classes in high school as well as working experiences I have started to see that I can build things. and nothing beats the feeling of working hard and being able to stand back and look at something I have poured hours of work and sweat into and realizing that it came out of my own two hands.