From TikTok to Toolbox: The Young Are Bringing Back the Trades

🧍‍♂️Forging Futures: How Boerne Champion High School Is Reviving the Trades

In a world increasingly obsessed with digital credentials and four-year degrees, a quiet revolution is taking place in Boerne, Texas—one that trades textbooks for torches and theory for tangible skill. At the heart of this movement is Boerne Champion High School’s welding program, recently elevated through a groundbreaking partnership with HOLT CAT, the largest Caterpillar dealer in the nation. Thirty-five students earned American Welding Society certifications this spring, stepping directly into high-demand careers that are reshaping the American workforce.

This isn’t just a local success story—it’s a blueprint for how vocational education can restore dignity, purpose, and prosperity to a generation often told that college is the only path forward.

🔩 The Power of Partnership: Champion HS and HOLT CAT

The welding program at Champion High School, led by longtime instructor Dorman Vick, has become a national model for vocational excellence. With HOLT CAT’s support, students gain hands-on experience with industry-grade equipment, mentorship from professionals, and real-world projects that serve their community—from building fish habitats for the Cibolo Creek to crafting cemetery gates.

“This is the first project of its kind where we’ve actually worked directly with the school system to address that skills gap,” said Rick Elmore, HOLT’s talent outreach manager. The program doesn’t just teach welding—it instills discipline, teamwork, and pride. Students leave not only certified, but confident.

The program is also actively inclusive. Female students are signing up in growing numbers and are fully welcomed by their male counterparts. Evelyn Hudson, a recent graduate, shared how her classmates rallied to build a cross for her mother’s headstone after her passing. “We honestly care about each other and know how to work as a team,” she said. That spirit of camaraderie and mutual respect is part of what makes this program exceptional.

While Champion HS builds technical skill, The Kendall Gentleman builds proactive support to revitalize the trades and cultural ethos. This Boerne-based publication champions a return to integrity, craftsmanship, and masculine virtue—values often lost in today’s fast-paced, digital-first society. With articles and podcasts that celebrate hard work, tradition, and the art of being a gentleman, The Kendall Gentleman reminds us that trades are not just jobs—they’re callings.

📜 Texas Steps Up: Government Support for Vocational Education

This local momentum is backed by sweeping state-level initiatives. Governor Greg Abbott declared career training an emergency item for the 89th Legislature, signaling a major shift in priorities. New legislation allows high school students to swap core academic classes for career and technical education, while expanding funding for apprenticeships and career advising.

Programs like the TRUE Grant and WIOA funding offer millions in support for short-term, industry-aligned training. Texas isn’t just talking about workforce development—it’s investing in it.

🔧 Mike Rowe and the National Trades Renaissance

Nationally, this movement finds its voice in Mike Rowe, host of “Dirty Jobs” and founder of the mikeroweWORKS Foundation. Rowe argues that America doesn’t have a skills gap—it has a “will gap.” His foundation has awarded over $2.5 million in work ethic scholarships to students pursuing trades like welding, electrical work, plumbing, and manufacturing.

The urgency is real: the U.S. faces a shortage of over 450,000 skilled tradespeople, with the biggest gaps in welding, electrical work, HVAC, and general labor. Rowe warns that for every five tradespeople who retire, only two replace them—a trend that threatens not just economic stability, but national security.

His foundation is helping reverse that trend by supporting young people, women, and veterans entering the trades at rates not seen since World War II. In fact, 42% of recent applicants to BlueRecruit, a trades hiring platform supported by Rowe’s foundation, were female.

🔨 Building More Than Careers

What makes Boerne’s story exceptional is its holistic approach. Students aren’t just trained—they’re transformed. They learn to weld, yes, but they also learn to care, to collaborate, and to carry one another through hardship. The program is a living example of what happens when technical skill meets human connection.

This is the future of education: one that teaches skill, builds character, and fosters community. It’s a future where a high school welding class can change lives, where a magazine can restore cultural pride, and where a state can lead the nation in workforce renewal.

🛠️ A Model Worth Replicating

Boerne Champion High School and The Kendall Gentleman are proving that trades are not a fallback—they’re a foundation. With state support and national momentum, Texas is poised to become the gold standard in vocational education. And in Boerne, the sparks flying from a welding torch are lighting the way.

Let’s hope more communities follow suit. Because when students are given the tools, trust, and opportunity to build something real, they don’t just forge metal—they forge futures. Here are resources for those who want to dig in deeper to forge that future.

*Featured Image – Dorman Vick by Jonathan R Mallard, courtesy of The Kendall Gentleman