It’s “lap three” for teen race car driver Brennan Palmiter’s “Go-Brennan” YouTube Scholarship promotion that offers up to 25 scholarships of $500 each to students seeking careers in manufacturing.
Sponsored by the Fabricators & Manufacturers Association (FMA) Foundation and SolidWorks Corporation, the “GO-Brennan” Scholarships are tied to FMA’s sponsorship of 17-year-old stock car driver Palmiter’s 2009 racing season. Palmiter is proficient in four types of welding, a skill he uses to motivate other young people to consider the industrial trades as a career choice.
Palmiter appears in a clever, engaging four-minute video on YouTube inviting high school, trade school and college students to apply for the scholarships by posting their own video. In the video, Palmiter states, “Make it a mission to claim your tuition and gear up for a great career in manufacturing.”
To qualify for the competition, students must plan to attend a trade school or two-year community college this fall for classes in welding or other metal fabricating processes. To enter, students simply make a one-minute video explaining why they want to be in manufacturing, what career they seek, and where they plan to attend school. They also are encouraged to include footage of themselves welding or building with metal. The deadline to post videos is April 3 and winners will be notified by April 20.
In addition to the monetary prize, each scholarship winner will receive the full licensed version of the SolidWorks® Student Design Kit CAD software, a Windows-based CAD application that gives students the ability to create “real-life” 3D designs, and a VISTA® auto-darkening welding helmet courtesy of The Lincoln Electric Company.
“We are pleased to again offer the ‘Go Brennan’ scholarship promotion to students seeking to advance their metal fabricating skills at their local trade school or community college next fall,” says Terrence Egan, director of the FMA Foundation. “We look forward to seeing all of the applicants’ video testimonials of why they seek careers in manufacturing.
Palmiter adds that there is a need now for between 25,000 and 50,000 welders and because the average age of welders is 54 there will be many career opportunities in the field.
“It is important to reach the younger generation about these opportunities to help alleviate the nationwide shortage in skilled labor that this country is experiencing and revitalize the future of manufacturing in America,” adds Egan.
More information on the FMA Foundation and a link to Brennan Palmiter’s YouTube video are available at www.nutsandboltsfoundation.org/.