MHS senior needs Facebook votes to win welding scholarship

Maricopa High School senior Paul Delgado is a finalist in the mikeroweWORKS Foundation contest for a full scholarship to the Tulsa Welding School and needs Facebook votes. 

Through his foundation, Mike Rowe, who is the host of the cable television show Dirty Jobs, has a $250,000 education scholarship fund for students interested in pursuing a career in the skilled trades.

To view Paul’s video and/or vote for it, click Facebook here. The contest ends April 30.

Javier Torres, Paul’s welding teacher, said Paul became applied for the scholarship after a presenter from the foundation visited MHS to discuss how students can enter.

Paul, who is 18, wrote an essay about why he wants the scholarship and his interest in welding as a career to become a finalist in the national contest, Torres said. All finalists are required to make a video explaining why they want to win. Paul and senior La Ronda Lee created the video. Paul’s father Paul Delgado Sr. said 86 students made the cut as video finalists.

Paul is a third-year welding student and president of the school welding club.

In the video, Paul said he enrolled in a welding class as a sophomore.

“This would be the one class I looked forward to at the end of the day,” he said. “What started as a hobby turned into a passion.

“There are not many times in your lifetime when you get an opportunity to figure out what you want to do and that you are really good at,” he said.

Torres is featured in the video. He calls Paul a “great leader and an excellent student. He would benefit greatly by the opportunity to become a welder in the world.”

The top 17 videos win a scholarship, Delgado Sr. said.

“I am trying to create some exposure (for Paul’s video) in the community so he can stay in the running for the scholarship,” he said, adding contestants are continually being eliminated until the top winners are selected.

Paul said the tuition to study basic welding at the school is about $30,000. 

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