Start Your Career From a Place of Gratitude…And Build On IT!

It Worked for This mikeroweWORKS Foundation Scholarship Winner!

Brian Hunter, a mikeroweWORKS Scholarship winner, is a great example of the Foundation’s S.W.E.A.T. pledge in action. When Brian first read the pledge, it resonated with him. From the very first statement about starting from a place of gratitude to taking control of your own life instead of blaming circumstances, he felt it described the way he wanted to live his life. 

Early Years

Brian came from a broken home, and he decided he was going to break that cycle. He knew he wanted to build a stable life steady and provide well for his family. 

He was always a curious kid, taking things apart to see how they worked and putting them back together. He liked outdoor life: hiking, camping, and panning for gold. Between his spirit for adventure and curious nature, he was always getting into scrapes.

Brian did not appreciate school in his early years, rebelling against the structure and the hours indoors. At age 14, he joined the Fire Explorers, a branch of the Boy Scouts of America, which helped prepare kids to become firefighters.

Finding the Right Path

At age 25, Brian and his wife were planning on starting a family and agreed they wanted Brian to have more time at home than fire fighting or EMT work allowed, so he decided on a career change. He didn’t want to go back to college, so he thought he would learn a trade. He found an opportunity with a small electrical company, and he was on his way. 

Realizing how much there was to learn and wanting to improve, Brian began night classes. Soon he realized that at the rate he was going, it would be quite a few years until he got his degree, so he needed a new pathway to his dreams.

 One day he was at a wholesale house picking up parts for a job, and while he waited, he saw an article in a newspaper sitting on the counter. It was an interview in which a mikeroweWORKS Foundation Scholarship winner talked about how the scholarship made their education possible. Brian was a fan of Dirty Jobs and other television programs Mike Rowe had appeared in, and he was inspired. He began to think that maybe he could get through trade school, after all. In fall of 2019, Brian started classes at an area trade school.

Classes were fine, instructors were helpful, and all was well until, just a couple of months in, the COVID-19 virus struck and threw a wrench into the works. Classes were moved online, which is difficult when learning hands-on skills, but Brian soon found that his classes were boiling down to simply one question an instructor left on an online board and that was meant to stand in as both lecture and assignment. He realized that he and his classmates were missing out on their education.

As a person who was never afraid to speak up or make a mistake, Brian gathered his classmates together and they rallied to demand more from the instructors. The end result was that the classes were broken up into smaller groups of students who met at different times to go through topics with the instructors on group phone calls. It was a vast improvement, and even though they couldn’t do things hands-on in class, they could try them at home. Later, students said that if he hadn’t orchestrated the intervention, they wouldn’t have made it through the program. Brian learned a valuable lesson; if what’s at stake is important, you have to stand up for yourself and others.

The Meaning of the mikeroweWORKS Foundation Scholarship

When Brian saw that article about a scholarship winner, he found that if he planned to apply for the scholarship himself, he needed to get everything in within two weeks. That included paperwork showing that he was enrolled in a program that fit their criteria, two solid references from bosses or teachers, his essay answers, a signed S.W.E.A.T pledge, and a 60-second video. It was a rush, but he got it in and he won a scholarship.

Brian found the S.W.E.A.T. pledge to be like the commandments of how to be a successful citizen. 

“I love the S.W.E.A.T. pledge,” Brian said. “It stands in direct opposition to an entitlement and victimhood mentality. The pledge sustains a self-image that demands commitment of character and discipline over motivation.”

 Brian likes the pledge because he believes in continuous self-improvement. Further, he finds it to be a constant reminder not to take his foot off the gas. He doesn’t want to let anyone down, including Mike, the Foundation, or other participants who are counting on a mikeroweWORKS Foundation Scholarship to mean something; for example, that it is given to people with a good work ethic, personal responsibility, and accountability.

Not only does he strive to live the pledge, but from a practical standpoint, he believes that winning the scholarship is a resume builder. A prospective employer who sees the pledge you have voluntarily taken is given some idea of who you are. 

Of his experience with the mikeroweWORKS Foundation, Brian said, “It is an honor to be a part of an organization that is spearheading the call to arms to join the trades. Mike and his team are extremely generous with their time and efforts to ensure a future for our working class builders of America.” 

After Trade School

Brian now works at Rancho Pacific Electric in Rancho Cucamonga, California. He loves the work; he finds it demanding, both physically and intellectually, pushing him to learn new things, and the demands keep the work fresh. 

His coworkers are very knowledgeable and professional, and Brian is glad to work with them. He likens them to iron sharpening iron: a group of people being improved, refined, and becoming more knowledgeable through interaction with each other.

Advice for Anyone Who is Considering Entering the Electric Trade (or likely any new job)

• Show up and be on time.

• Don’t complain.

• Don’t compare yourself to others; just do your best and strive to do better every day.

• Pay attention to what your weak areas are and seek knowledge about that subject.

• Ask questions.

• Don’t be afraid to make a mistake; step out of your comfort zone.

• As you rise, reach down and pull others up with you.

This may sound like simple advice, but it isn’t always easy to follow these guidelines. Eventually these behaviors, if practiced faithfully, will become automatic through force of habit.

How Do We Encourage More People to Enter the Trades?

Brian said that more articles like this one need to be published, articles “expressing discipline above decadence and reminding people that hard work is an absolute necessity to a functioning society. It’s time we pause to look around at the buildings we work in, the roads we drive on, the faucets we use, and the lights we rely upon… We must take inventory and teach our children of the labor and skills required to build the infrastructure.” 

The infrastructure is created and maintained by hardworking people. The people who have a direct impact on our everyday lives are ignored while people who play sports or work as actors and singers are idolized. How can we change this mindset? It all starts with gratitude.

How can we encourage people to think about what is important in their lives, reconnect with reality, and value those things that are useful? The easiest way is to teach our youngest citizens as they grow up. This is what Brian is practicing with his kids.

Brian’s elder son is 8 years old, and he has his own business. He created “business cards” and solicited for customers. Every Saturday he rides his bike with a homemade wagon on the back and he picks up recyclables from his customers, then Dad helps him take them to the recycling center. What an enterprising and dedicated young man!

Another way to encourage people to enter the trades, according to Brian, is to write articles about people’s journeys to find their place in the trades. A story like that helped him, and he loves that now he gets to have his story told to inspire someone else. RB