As part of the ESAB Future Fabricators program, ESAB has announced that it will sponsor WesternWelding Academy’s 2025 “Blue Collar Tour,” a 31-city American journey with a mission to get high school students interested in the skilled trades. Part of the student engagement activities on each stop includes the opportunity to TIG weld with ESAB’s Renegade VOLT™ ES 200i battery-powered welder or Rebel™ EMP 205ic AC/DC all-process welder. In addition, ESAB will give every school on the stop a Victor Medalist oxy-acetylene cutting and welding outfit, a box of ESAB Goldrox 7018 premium stick electrodes and Tweco® electrode holders.
The Blue Collar Tour travels around the country with 10 to 13 representatives from Western Welding Academy, a trade school located in Gillette, Wyoming, that offers a 960-hour pipe welding course. The school boasts a huge social media following, largely among young people interested in learning a trade. Representatives from ESAB will join the Blue Collar Tour, where they will answer questions about careers in welding, provide hands-on welding guidance and hand out ESAB T-shirts and other swag.