The Electrician
Twenty-year-old Emma Frick was born and raised on a farm in Minnesota.
“I got my work ethic from that,” she told The Epoch Times. “Farming is a tough thing to do. So, that’s where my roots started.”
In Blanco, Minnesota, the homeschooled Frick met her future husband, Justin, also the child of a farming family.
“We talked, and discussed different career paths, and eventually found the electrical trade,“ she said. ”I got an apprenticeship the summer before I started technical school, and from there it was history. I graduated, and here I am.”
The couple then scouted out places they wanted to live and settled on Charlotte, North Carolina, in part because “Charlotte’s growing exponentially, and there’s a ton of work.”
Justin found employment with the city’s water department, while Frick worked for an electrical company until she earned her electrician’s license.
Though short of both equipment and customers, she was determined to open her own business.
“I had nothing lined up when I quit,” she confided. “So, this was very, very scary. All I had were a few basic hand tools. But I was able to get a few jobs and build up my capital, and invest in a lot more tools.”
Today, Frick is the proud owner of Champion Electric.
The Welder
Homeschooled like Frick, 29-year-old Jake Kern, a husband and father, grew up in a Colorado household where his veteran dad spent hours every week working on the property, chopping trees for firewood and tinkering with the family’s vehicles. Kern spent many of his weekends helping out, even though at the time he “hated it.” He has changed his tune as an adult.
“I really look at my childhood with fondness, because I gained a lot of experience that I know isn’t typical, like working on cars, working on the house, and getting some work ethic,” he said.
After trying college for a year, Kern ran through a variety of jobs.
“I’ve been a heavy machine operator, I’ve done medical coding and billing for health and wellness centers, I’ve worked in some menial labor stuff, I’ve done concrete foundation work for homes, and I’ve worked. ... pulling hot tubs out of big cast-iron molds. That was a rough job,” he said.
Kern was going through some hard times, working as a customer service rep in an auto repair shop.
“A gentleman who was a retired welder came in to have his truck serviced, and we got to talking,“ he said. ”He was telling me all about the welding trade, and that it was an actual career, and you could make a good living. So, this was at the end of 2017, and from our conversation he said there were 300,000 open welding jobs in the United States.”
Having decided to leave Pennsylvania for Washington state, Kern arranged six job interviews, flew west, and was hired for all six positions.
“I was there for about two and a half years, working in structural steel, big girders, and columns for transit centers, high schools, middle schools, stuff like that,“ he said. ”I did that for about seven months, then COVID hit and I got laid off.”
An older man, a fellow welder Kern had befriended at church, then offered him employment making railings.
“He taught me so much,” Kern said, “and enabled me to run my own business.”
Overalls and Opportunity
This year, Rowe and his foundation are looking to give away at least $2.5 million in scholarships for students attending trade schools. The foundation’s website states, “We’re looking for hardworking men and women who will keep the lights on, water running, and air flowing—people who will show up early, stay late, and bust their asses to get the job done.”Here, too, gratitude ranks No. 1 on this list: “I believe that I have won the greatest lottery of all time. I am alive. I walk the earth. I live in America. Above all things, I am grateful.”
“Opportunity,” Rowe once said, “usually shows up in overalls and looks like work.”
Emma Frick and Jake Kern took the S.W.E.A.T. Pledge, put on those overalls, got their hands dirty, and opened the door of opportunity.
