Uniball's Skilled Trades Scholarship

1.) I am actively pursuing an associate's degree in welding through my local community college. I decided to pursue this career due to the stability of the field, the overall projected job growth, and the ability to provide for my wife and daughter as (I believe) any man should. I became passionate about welding at a young age, ever since my father showed me how to do some rough stick welding during a repair job on a trailer. I quickly learned that I enjoy building and creating new things that can help other people. I learned that there are many different career paths as a welder including art, fabrication, maintenance, travel welding, nuclear, etc. I even planned on joining the Marine Corps as a welder! Although joining the military as a welder didn't workout, I still wanted to pursue my dream after I ended my military contract. This let me to where I am today. 2.) After I obtain my associate's degree in Welding, I plan on getting as much welding experience as possible by getting a job at one of the veteran-owned fabrication companies in town. Being a military veteran myself, I admire the challenges and adversity that other veterans overcome in order to make successful businesses and I aim to be a part of a team like that. Admittedly, I don't like to plan ahead more than 5 years because like Forest Gump says "Life is like a box of chocolates". However, after I gain some experience as a welder, my wife and I agreed that we would like to take a couple of years and persue travel assignments as a welder in order to help other companies out around the United States. I also have always had an entrepreneurial spirit and dream of opening a business of my own one day as a welding contractor. 3.) I am a firm believer that everything in life (good and bad) happens for a reason. Looking back on my family history, my family has never been goal-oriented or financially responsible and I aim to change that. Dispute being having my father in prison for most of my childhood, and my mother being deceased, I have always aimed to better my life from a young age and I truly think welding can help me get there. Although now that I am a disabled Marine Corps Veteran, my main goal is to become a man that my children would like to emulate and prove to everyone that I will not let any obstacles or disabilities get in my way of providing a better life for my family.

My goal is to learn the knowledge and gain the skills necessary to become an electrical lineman. I feel the trades are an asset to our communities and our lives. My dad would always say “the trades are a dying breed, if you learn a skill no one can take that from you.” I am passionate about this career path because I enjoy the outdoors and being hands on with things I do. I enjoy hunting, fishing and golfing. These activities can take place in various weather conditions so I do not mind the elements. I am accepted in to the Southeast Lineman Training Center program in Georgia. It is not a traditional college degree program. I feel the program will provide me the knowledge and hands on training necessary to work in the field. I feel scholarships such as this one will encourage people to seek out the trades. The program I have been accepted to does not offer financial aid, but there are other forms of financial assistance such as student loan, people eligible for the GI Bill. Even in my search for scholarships there are far more offered for people pursuing college level two to four year degrees. The cost of trade programs can discourage enrollment in these programs. My plans after my program completion are to get a job in my field in hopes that my employer will provide further education opportunities either on the job or opportunities to attend training seminars or workshops. My dad passed suddenly and unexpectedly in 2020. This has left a hole in my life that no one can fill. I have certainly not overcome it but I work hard to move through it everyday. I loved hanging out with my dad and tagging along with him, which often lead to me helping him with whatever odd job he may be doing, from installing a household ceiling fan, an added plug outlet to a wall, flooring installation to working on a Christmas tree farm. My dad instilled a hard work ethic in me and was a great example of someone who was reliable and always encouraged me to just do my best. He is still a big influence in my everyday life. Life is never the same after you suffer a significant loss of someone you love. You can not replace them, you find ways to honor their life and what it meant to you.

As an independent student due to both of my parents dying from cancer leaving me to survive on my own. Unlike most of my peers whom can fall back on their parents for support. I am the support system emotionally, physically, and financially. This scholarship could ease the burden for me to fully focus on my academic studies. The current covid19 pandemic has ushered in a new way of life for many the effects of the virus has had a dramatic impact on society. HVAC is an essential profession in society air filtration will help aid in upcoming battles of war against future invisible virus that come. Being able to control temperatures allow the elimination of the spread of germs thanks to HVAC workers. My life has had various obstacles of adversity I have had to overcome. Being a black minority in America was my birth right it was cast upon my rich chocolate skin the moment I was delivered. Growing up in Gainesville in low-income housing or as some refer to as the ghetto was my survival boot camp training. Every day was survival for the fittest Darwin would be proud the way I survived shoot outs being surround by guns, violence, drugs, and mental health disorders from a plagued diminished community of low economic standings. Being a product of public housing, I have always worn the fact of where I come from with pride it is my scarlet letter. My community shaped and molded the individual I am today. Through my adversities I gained real life experiences low-income public housing allowed for myself to bear witness to societies worst attributes as well as the true beauty of humanity. Rather it was watching drugs cripple families forcing children to turn to gun violence leaving them to turn to gangs for a false sense of family security. However, on the other side of that coin I got to view fierce mothers protect and provide for their children making sacrifices every day to place food on the table. I watched many in my community bleed out on the concrete streets. While, some overdosed hunched over against the brick buildings. Yet, they did not own a street or brick they left no generational wealth only vouchers of misery. Most students have the luxury of dreaming of being scientist, doctors, engineers, or liberal art majors to accumulate a mass of loan debt is not an option for me. I am attending Santa Fe to receive a trade in HVAC program to start my own business offering a service to the community at a fair rate in order to sustain the life I would like to live. Hopefully if I'm successful in my business I can help my community and reach back. Giving the men like me jobs to make a living instead of having them sell drug to one another. This will be for my childhood friends whom have lost their ability to dream of a brighter future only left with the darkness of the barrel of a gun. The struggling single mother whom just would like to provide a safe environment for her children to academically thrive in with out the worrisome thought of violence plaguing their daily life. Creating real economic change in my Community there is a need for more trade workers. The pandemic shined a light on the shortage in all professional fields which are essential pillars to society. I will achieve my goals due to the fact in this game of life you have to play the cards dealt to you even if it is a bad hand.