‘Be Pro Be Proud’
Mobile workshop seeks to spark students’ interest in skilled jobs
JESSIEVILLE — The Arkansas “Be Pro Be Proud” mobile workshop arrived in Garland County on Monday where it visited the Jessieville High School campus, before spending Tuesday and Wednesday at Hot Springs World Class High School.
The workshop, encased in a 910-square-foot tractor-trailer, features interactive workstations that engage students in skilled professional careers such as construction, trucking, welding, plumbing, manufacturing and other trade-specific skilled jobs.
Announced by the Arkansas State Chamber of Commerce and the Associated Industries of Arkansas in early 2016, the “Be Pro Be Proud” workforce initiative was created to address the growing gap in skilled workforce.
“This is a blessing, and this is a wonderful opportunity to have the Be Pro Be Proud professionals come out here and to be able to talk to the Jessieville students from grades 8-12,” Chuck Ragsdale, National Park College career coach for the Jessieville School District, said on Monday.
“The staff, the administration, everybody on board here has basically opened their schedules today to allow their students and even their teachers to come out here to see what the Be Proud Be Pro movement is all about. The students have really taken a liking to it and you can see that spark. That’s the whole intention behind this program, is to get the spark and the education out there,” he said.
The tour manager, Montrell Thornton, said since starting the initiative in central Arkansas seven years ago, it has grown to include such other states as Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina and South Carolina. Gaining momentum from the continued excitement surrounding the need and opportunities, he expects it to expand to half the country before 2030.
“Our motive, our objective is to educate students around all the skilled trade professions that are out there,” he said. “We call it the mobile workshop truck and trailer, and also inside of it … we have multiple simulators for each station from each sponsor, educating students around all skilled trade professions.”
Thornton described the skilled workforce as the “backbone of this country.”
“Nobody can do anything without us. And I don’t know what happened in this country, but along the way, we just kind of forgot that. Everything around us — the clothes we have on, the cars we drive, the roads, the buildings, the facilities … even the four-year-route guys. You look at Harvard, Yale, you look at the (University of Arkansas) — all these colleges were built by us. And once we’re done building, we’re also maintaining. So there’s a giant need for us,” he said.
Many skilled professions fall under a section of the job market that is recession-proof, he said.
“COVID really shined a light on us, and that’s the reason why we’ve grown so quickly and we gained some momentum. Because it’s due to the fact that we finally found out in this country that there is a small portion of us that want to do these things,” he said.
Regarding the gap, he said many skilled professionals are looking to retire, and there has to be another generation to step up and maintain the country’s infrastructure. Ragsdale noted that studies show by the year 2030, the national landscape “is going to people with these skills-related jobs.”
“Yes, we’re still going to need the teachers and the doctors and the lawyers with those college degrees, but we also need people to know how to do your plumbing, electrical, driving trucks, HVAC. … We have to have those vital skills to keep this country working, basically,” he said.
Right now, students seem to be showing particular interest in welding and lineman careers. He said when he explains to them the opportunities and earnings potential that are available, it garners their interest.
“They see this, and they understand that, and — no pun intended — but that sparks, and they take interest in that,” he said.