It’s Time For Young People To Take Sweat Equity Literally
Whatever form it takes, manual labor done well is immensely rewarding. So don’t stick up your nose — roll up your sleeves and get to work.Whatever form it takes, manual labor done well is immensely rewarding. So don’t stick up your nose — roll up your sleeves and get to work.It’s Time For Young People To Take Sweat Equity Literally
Whatever form it takes, manual labor done well is immensely rewarding. So don’t stick up your nose — roll up your sleeves and get to work.New York company hires high school grads for up to $75K annually, plus pension, no college degree required
Who says you need a college degree to get a good-paying job?
Not Chris DiStefano, the owner and COO of a New York construction company that is providing good-paying jobs with full benefits to teens straight out of high school.
His company, Harrison & Burrowes Bridge Constructors, works with the Questar III BOCES program to offer summer apprenticeships for high school students that can translate to a full-time position after graduation. Laborers can be paid between $65,000-$75,000 annually and put as much as $30,000 away per year in a pension.
DiStefano spoke to Fox & Friends Thursday morning about the opportunities available for teens and young adults who don't want to take on debt to go to college.
"We've been able to take in high school students that are juniors going into their senior year and give them 200 hours' worth of work at our main office in Albany," DiStefano explained. "They get some hands-on experience and there's opportunity for them to come on with us full-time after graduation."
"College isn't for everybody," DiStefano said. "With the rising cost of tuition, we can provide a great opportunity for those folks that may not, you know, the path to college may not be the best path for them."
Harrison & Burrowes works to build, maintain, and repair bridges. DiStefano said that it can be a challenge to find qualified workers, but that his company takes the apprenticeship program "very seriously."
"We’re taking it very seriously and doing all the things on our end to make a sustainable future," he said.
A good-paying job for non-college-graduates can save some people tens of thousands of dollars in debt.
The average tuition cost to attend a public four-year college or university in the United States was $9,400 in 2020-21, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Over four years, students are expected to pay an average of $37,600 for a bachelor's degree at a public institution. Tuition costs at private or for-profit schools were nearly double on average.
Many Americans take on loans to cover those costs. Of the class of 2019, 62% graduated with student debt, according to the most recent data available from the Institute for College Access & Success. Those students owe an average of $28,950. A total of 45 million Americans currently hold a collective $1.75 trillion in federal and private student loan debt, according to the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis.
But for some, the benefits of a college degree may outweigh the costs. Americans with a high school diploma or GED made an average of $39,000 in 2020, while those who went to college and graduated with a bachelor's degree made $73,000 on average, according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
The government has also set an expectation that some federal student loan debt may be canceled. President Joe Biden last month announced a plan to unilaterally forgive $10,000 of student loan debt for federal borrowers earning less than $125,000 per year. However, the plan was criticized by some who argue student loan forgiveness incentivizes colleges and universities to increase tuition rates and borrowers to take out higher loans to cover those costs.
Watch:
'Life's tough — you've just gotta fight through it': Stetson Bennett, walk-on QB for Georgia, shares how he beat the odds, won national championship
As confetti rained down upon the field after the University of Georgia Bulldogs' 33-18 national championship victory over powerhouse University of Alabama Crimson Tide on Monday night, a reporter asked Stetson Bennett IV — the "underdog" quarterback who worked his way into Georgia's starting lineup after beginning his stint there as a walk-on — if he had any words of wisdom for others facing difficult obstacles.
"What does your story and your stick-around, your fight, your attitude say to all of the underdogs, all of the walk-ons out there?" the reporter asked.
At first Stetson was a little unsure — and then he replied with advice that may seem foreign to the entitled, triggered, safe space-obsessed mindset of many his age.
"Just keep fightin'. Keep your mouth shut. Work hard," Stetson said. "You know, life's tough — you've just gotta fight through it."
Kirby Smart & Stetson Bennett postgame interview: Georgia def. Alabama in CFP National Championshipsyoutu.be
'Countless crossroads'
Bennett — all 5-feet-11, 190 pounds of him — wanted to quarterback for Georgia and lead the squad to a national title since he was a toddler.
ESPN said he brushed away scholarship offers from smaller schools and decided to walk on for his beloved Bulldogs.
Things only got harder from there.
Bennett "reached countless crossroads and endured untold obstacles. At every stage, every time there was a decision to be made, he made the choice that kept the dream alive, even when it looked like the opposite would happen," Fox Sports' Martin Rogers wrote.
The kid from Blackshear — which Rogers said is the "heart of Bulldogs country" — ran the scout team his freshman year and was way low on the depth chart.
Bennett figured a stint playing for Jones County Junior College in Mississippi might help Bulldogs coach Kirby Smart take a more serious look at him, as the school has been a funnel for numerous Georgia players.
When Bennett returned to Georgia a year later, Fox Sports said the team "kept recruiting over him." While he got the starting nod in 2020, he soon lost it to JT Daniels — and Bennett began the 2021 season as a backup.
But when Daniels suffered an injury, Bennett was calling signals again and never looked back — all the way to the national championship game against Alabama, Fox Sports said.
Things weren't a cake walk against the Crimson Tide, either, as Bennett fumbled late in the game — an error that could have been the nail in the Bulldogs' coffin, as Alabama quickly took the lead.
But the quarterback Georgia never seemed to want, who had faced and overcome many obstacles before that moment, simply dug his heels in and persevered.
All he did was toss a long touchdown pass late in the game, giving Georgia a lead it would never relinquish.
Georgia\u2019s Stetson Bennett never gave up on his dream and it paid off with a National Championship.https://www.outkick.com/stetson-bennett-makes-a-dream-come-true-winning-national-championship/\u00a0\u2026— OutKick (@OutKick) 1641907694
After the game he said he had no choice but to get his mind off his turnover and look toward winning the game. "I had to, otherwise we were gonna lose," Bennett said, adding that his attitude was, "I gotta fix this."
When asked why he kept fighting for spot on the Bulldogs, he said, "I love this place. I love this team. I believe in myself. I think I'm the best quarterback. And I just love everything about this place, and I wanted to win a national championship here."
Here's a video profile of Bennett that ran prior to the championship game:
Stetson Bennett IV's journey to becoming Georgia's QB | College GameDayyoutu.be
Today's top stories
www.theblaze.com
freebeacon.com