JOHNSTOWN, Pennsylvania — Alex Bambino, 21, is the son of two educators. He’s busy working, welding a piece of material that will be used on a heavily armored military vehicle when finished. Despite two college-educated parents, who teach at the local Cambrian County schools, he wanted nothing to do with college following high school.

“I like working with my hands, being part of making something that is important, and I had no interest in starting my adult life in debt,” he said.

So he went to Greater Johnstown Career and Technology Center, and he became so good at what he did that he was recognized at the SkillsUSA championship as a national competitor. He found work in his hometown at JWF Defense Systems, located in the old Bethlehem Steel plant along the Conemaugh River. And he became part of something bigger than himself in the machines he helped make.

Bambino is just the kind of young person Mike Rowe has been talking about for the past few years in his tireless effort to inspire young people to consider a different path after high school.

For 16 years, Rowe, host of “Dirty Jobs,” has highlighted the purpose, skills and importance of the everyman. He has run a foundation that draws attention to the need our workforce has, and which our educators lack, in encouraging young people to look to the trades to keep our roads, bridges, cars and national security humming.

Rowe, in an interview with the Washington Examiner, said he started the mikeroweWORKS Foundation in 2008 in large part because of the country’s workforce shortage in skilled labor and trade jobs.

Rowe said what they do at mikeroweWORKS is offer work ethic scholarships to men and women who want to “learn a skill that’s in demand” and work.

“We have got $2.5 million dollars burning a hole in our metaphorical pockets,” he explained, adding they could also use more money since interest this year is through the roof.

The current scholarship cycle launched on Feb. 12. To earn the scholarship, applicants need to enroll in an approved program, sign the S.W.E.A.T. Pledge, answer four questions about the S.W.E.A.T. (Skill & Work Ethic Aren’t Taboo) Pledge, make a video, have two solid references from a teacher or boss, and verify school costs by April 17.

“Recruiting in the trade fields is a big problem for American companies today. We have millions of positions open and an untrained labor force to fill them,” he said.

Rowe, fresh off the blunt and inspiring talk he gave at this year’s Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland, said young people like Bambino are exactly why he does what he does with his foundation, especially in light of the fact that the national deficit in skilled artisans affects national security.