My passion for pursuing a career in the Construction or Skilled Trades fields mostly comes from my time spent with my father, Randy Metheny, as a young adult. He was a carpenter by trade and although he could build a house from the foundation up, he mostly just did the framing and roofing. He was always swinging a hammer. Tragedy struck my family on Spet. 23, 2008 when my father and younger brother were both killed in our home. I was also shot in the leg and later had to amputate below my knee. My life has not been easy since I lost my brother and father, which was also the same day that my brother and I both worked our first and last full day with our father. My dad was always so proud of the things he built and I was always amazed at what he could do with a little bit of wood, some nails and a hammer. I would like to be able to make him proud by following in his footsteps while also forging my own path by becoming a professional welder. Though my dad is where my passion for the Skill Trades ultimately stem, it has however, been my older brother, Michael Carlsen, that has been recently pushing me to go to school to become something more than what I have been these past 15 years. After getting shot and watching my brother and father die in front of me I fell into deep drug addiction due to both physical and mental anguish. In Jan 2022, I finally decided to amputate my left leg below the knee in order to rid myself of the physical anguish I had suffered from for so long. I've been clean since Nov 11, 2022. My older brother has been very supportive in my recovery and continues to help drive my focus into a better future for myself and my future family. In order to make this world a better place, I plan to use this career to strengthen our infrastructure. Pipe welding or dive welding is where I would like to end up. I want to see the world and help those in need of natural resources that can only be provided by the people with the skill to mold some of the most solid materials together in order to make a literal life line to provide something every person in this world should be able to have safe access to; water, electricity, gas and shelter. Having the skill to weld is going to take me around the world one day in order to help the people that need it the most. In conclusion, my time around my father as an adolescent, my older brother pushing me to become more than I am and my desire to travel the world and help those that are in need the most are the reasons why my passion for the Construction or Skilled Trades have led me to pursue a career in welding.