By Joel Langton
The 830 Times
The Blue Collar Tour, a rock ‘n’ roll like show for welding students, hit Del Rio Tuesday and worked with nearly 200 regional welding students Wednesday.
The event was at the San Felipe Del Rio Consolidated Independent School District’s Gerardo J. Maldonado Career and Technical Education Center.
The show treks across the country and in 60 days, visits 31 select
high school campuses letting students know about some of the blue collar tradesman options available. The staff is based out of the Western Welding Academy in Gillette, Wyo.
When the Blue Collar Tour hits the campuses, it’s got everything a rock ‘n’ roll tour has. It’s got a tour bus with all the sponsors’ logos, the dozen person team has as many videographers and photographers on staff as welders, has a merchandise table, and it’s got giant screens showing the students the finer points of their craft. Like every show, it’s got hype man Quacy Wilson, master of ceremonies for the event and Western Welding Academy Student Selection Director, getting the students excited about their futures.
However, in the end, unlike a concert where people will fork over
several hundred dollars and leave with nothing but memories and maybe a t-shirt, 15 students left Wednesday’s event with $1,000 scholarships.
Organizers said they are focused on ensuring there are enough craftsmen in the country to fill available jobs.
“Right now, there are 500,000 welding jobs in the country that can’t be filled,” said Quacy (since there are two unrelated Wilsons on the tour, Quacy and Trevon will be referred to by their first names). “We want to get people excited about the blue collar trades and inspire the next generation. We encourage all trades, just happens that we are good at welding.”
While Del Rio has one of the top welding programs in the state, if not the nation, with two visits to nationals and nearly permanent reservations for state championship competitions over the last 10 years (they’ve been to the Texas Championships every year since 2013), the BCT tour manager said selecting Del Rio was student driven.
“Del Rio students applied for a tour stop and there were so many requests from Del Rio, we knew we had to stop here,” said Trevon Wilson, the tour’s manager. “We have a map we look at that shows where we are getting responses from and Del Rio just looked like it was on fire with all the submissions.
Tod Townsend, Del Rio High School welding program director,
said nearly 200 students attended the event from campuses as far away as San Antonio.
Townsend said he was extremely pleased with the event.
“We just want to get Del Rio’s welding program bigger and better so we can help more students,” Townsend said. “If you’re not a book kind of person but you’re good with your hands, people need to know the blue collar trades need you!”
Quacy was quick to point out that it’s vital the younger generation step into the technical fields.
“The average blue collar worker is between 46- and 55-years-old,” he said. “We are trying to inspire the next generation to step into these fields.”
Townsend added the event would not have been possible without the support of community members.
“The Del Rio Chamber of Commerce stepped up and bought t-shirts, banners and food,” Townsend said. “Plus, Randel Dissler, Clint Lynde, Jimmy Murdoch and Tyler Dissler cooked for the kids all night and provided amazing brisket lunches.”
The writer can be reached at JoelaLangton@gmail.com .
