September opened with a jolt of optimism as the latest Bureau of Labor Statistics report revealed a robust labor market and an especially striking trend among Generation Z workers who have chosen to forgo a four-year degree.
According to RedState, a fresh analysis from the Burning Glass Institute shows that unemployment among workers ages 22 to 34 without a college degree has rarely been this low in two decades, underscoring a reality that runs counter to the prevailing narrative that a traditional college education is the only path to success. Thats the twist playing out across America right now and the numbers back it up. For conservatives who have long warned about the dangers of credentialism, ballooning student debt, and the devaluation of skilled labor, this is not a surprise but a vindication.
This shift owes much to early advocates who challenged the college-or-bust orthodoxy and championed the dignity of skilled trades. Chief among them is Mike Rowe, who nearly two decades ago began publicly urging young Americans to consider trades and technical work, and who created a scholarship program to help them do exactly that.
Rowes ethicrooted in personal responsibility, hard work, and mastery of a crafthas inspired a new generation of leaders who are quietly reshaping the future by investing in young people. Their approach is refreshingly simple and profoundly countercultural: set a goal, work hard, learn from life, and build something real.
That philosophy is at the heart of this weeks Feel-Good Friday, which highlights how conservative values of self-reliance, community, and merit are transforming lives. These stories are not about government programs or bureaucratic initiatives; they are about private citizens stepping up, building institutions, and proving that civil society still works when individuals take responsibility.
One of the clearest examples is the X School for Boys, a frequent subject at RedState, where founder King Randall has built an institution that blends social, practical, and academic education with real-world life skills. Randall launched the X School around 2018, and through sheer determination and vision, he has expanded it into a campus with buildings and dormitories and even created an X School for Girls.
At the core of Randalls mission is a desire to see the next generation thrive, particularly in his hometown of Albany, Georgia, where he has been relentless in his efforts to give young people a chance at a better life. The school is free for students, and Randall deliberately relies on private partnerships rather than government funding, ensuring independence from political strings and preserving the integrity of his mission.
Recently, Randall shared an update that captured exactly why his work matters. He posted about one of his 2021 students who had just completed Army basic training and earned the title of United States soldier.
From The X for Boys in 2021 to graduating U.S. Army Basic Training. ???? Isiah is one of my ORIGINAL boys. Through lifes ups and downs, he kept working, calling and seeking guidance. Today I got to watch him become a Soldier. THIS is why we do the work. ?? pic.twitter.com/hke1NdA61w That kind of transformation does not come from a government program or a social media trend; it comes from mentorship, discipline, and a community that refuses to give up on its young men.
Randall emphasized the long-term nature of this investment, reminding supporters that the fruits of their efforts often take years to appear. Sometimes you dont see the return on the work until YEARS later. To everyone who has donated to The X, this is what youre helping make possible: staying in these kids lives long enough to watch boys become men. Congratulations, Isiah. Proud of you! ?????? pic.twitter.com/nyQ6t34X7j
The power of this kind of influence is inherently personal and relational. It cannot be replicated by staring at a screen, scrolling through TikTok, or consuming endless online content that promises shortcuts to success but delivers only distraction.
Another figure living out these same principles is Rodney Smith Jr., founder and CEO of Raising Men and Women Lawn Care Service, another favorite among RedState readers. Smith has built a national movement around something as humble as mowing lawns, using it as a vehicle to teach responsibility, service, and work ethic to children and teenagers.
What began as a local effort has grown into a nationwide challenge for young people ages eight to 17, with the flagship initiative known as the 50-Yard Challenge. Participants commit to mowing 50 lawns for free for the elderly, people with disabilities, single mothers, and veterans, turning ordinary yard work into a powerful lesson in charity and civic duty.
Smiths organization explains the challenge this way: Could your child be the next to complete The 50 Yard Challenge? Kids ages 817 can join year-round and give back by mowing lawns, raking leaves, shoveling snow, and picking up litter for the elderly, disabled, single parents, and veteransall for FREE. As they serve, they earn pic.twitter.com/LNUzotXyB0 The program is structured to reward persistence and progress, not instant gratification.
As the group further notes, Could your child be the next to complete The 50 Yard Challenge? Kids ages 817 can join year-round and give back by mowing lawns, raking leaves, shoveling snow, and picking up litter for the elderly, disabled, single parents, and veteransall for FREE. As they serve, they earn different colored shirts along the way, and after completing 50 yards, they receive a brand-new mower, weed eater, and leaf blower! Theres no deadline and no race to finish. The real goal is to build confidence, responsibility, work ethic, and a heart for helping othersone yard and one act of kindness at a time. Talk to your child today and see if theyre ready to accept the challenge! ?? Learn more & sign up [here].
One of the most important aspects of Smiths program is that it forces kids to step out of their comfort zones and interact with real people in their own communities. Participants must knock on doors, introduce themselves, and ask if they can mow a lawn or shovel a drivewayan intimidating prospect for many young people raised in a digital world.
Once they push past that initial fear, they gain a kind of confidence that no online tutorial can provide. They also forge relationships with neighbors and community members that are invaluable, as seen recently when three 50-Yard Challenge finishersAbigail, Becky, and Peter of West Jordan, Utahwere featured on their local news.
WATCH: Abigail ,Becky & Peter of West Jordan, UT who recently completed the 50 yard challenge were interviewed by their local news . pic.twitter.com/l0C153mDOF That kind of recognition reinforces the message that service and hard work are worthy of public honor, not just viral clicks.
Smiths initiative also cultivates perseverance and grit, qualities that are increasingly rare in a culture obsessed with instant results. One participant, Miles, is a textbook example of what the program can do.
Miles began the 50-Yard Challenge three years ago at age 14 and only recently completed his 50th lawn at 17, earning the coveted black shirt that marks full completion. The before-and-after images of Miles are striking, not just in appearance but in bearing; the teenager who started the challenge is visibly different from the young man who finished it, as if the process itself forged his character.
Smith celebrated his achievement with a message that reads like a life lesson. Miles, congratulationsyou did it! Three years ago, you signed up to take on the 50 Yard Challenge, and today you can proudly say you finished what you started. The most important part of your journey isnt how long it tookits that over those three years, you never gave up. You pic.twitter.com/5uomxUaDQi
He continued, Miles, congratulationsyou did it! Three years ago, you signed up to take on the 50 Yard Challenge, and today you can proudly say you finished what you started. The most important part of your journey isnt how long it tookits that over those three years, you never gave up. You kept your goal in sight, kept moving forward, and stayed committed even when the finish line may have felt far away. That says a lot about your patience, perseverance, and character.
Smith then drew the obvious parallel between the challenge and life itself. Life is the same wayits not a sprint, its a marathon. Some goals happen quickly, while others take time, but what matters most is that you keep going and dont quit on something that means something to you. Take that same determination with you into everything you do, and I have no doubt youll accomplish great things. The people who go the farthest are often the ones who simply refuse to stop walking.
Beyond character and confidence, the 50-Yard Challenge can also ignite an entrepreneurial spark. One young participant, Bentley from Fremont, Ohio, took what began as volunteer service and turned it into a thriving small business.
Its hard for me to believe this is the same kid I met years ago who completed our 50 yard challenge by mowing 50 free lawns for the elderly , disabled , single parents and veterans . If theres one young man Id point to and say truly fell in love with mowing, even more than I did, it would be Bentley from Fremont, OH. He just turned 12 and hasnt slowed down one bit. What started as a simple act has grown into something incredible.
Smith detailed how Bentley has built his own lawn-care operation, securing 48 clients and saving $3,900 to purchase his own riding mower. Bentley now runs his own lawn business, has built up 48 clients, and even saved $3,900 to purchase his own riding mower. And the most powerful part? He still takes time to mow free lawns for those in need. Thats what this is all about, hard work, dedication, and a heart to serve. Bentley, Im proud of you keep going, youre inspiring more people than you know.
What makes Smith particularly compelling is that he does not merely direct others to serve; he lives it himself. When he is not traveling the country encouraging kids, he is back home in Alabama, connecting with his neighbors and mowing lawns for those who need help.
Today I had the pleasure of mowing Mr. Houstons Lawn. He was inside resting at the time I came by. Making a difference, one Lawn at a time. pic.twitter.com/niZG4PiUm7 It is a quiet, local, and deeply conservative model of change: neighbor helping neighbor, without waiting for Washington.
Standing above even these impressive efforts, however, is the long-running work of Mike Rowe and his mikeroweWORKS Foundation, which has arguably done more than any single initiative to restore respect for the skilled trades. As stated above, it is Mike Rowe and his foundation that is the GOAT in building young lives and giving young people wings to fly.
When Rowe launched his foundation in 2008, he could not have known that nearly 20 years later his push for trade education and work-ethic scholarships would help fuel a broader cultural shift now visible in national employment data. Recently, he revisited his original launch video, updating it with footage of the many young people whose lives have been changed by his scholarships and who have discovered not only stable careers but the deeper dignity of meaningful work.
One of Rowes latest scholarship stories involves welder Mikala Sposito, whose journey encapsulates the foundations mission. A couple years ago, Mikala Sposito applied for a work ethic scholarship from my foundation. She asked for $2,700.00 to help realize her dream of becoming a welder. (Actually, her first dream was to become an Olympian. As a kid, she excelled at horseback riding, dance, soccer, and track, but not quite at the Olympic level. So, Mikala adjusted her dream and focused on something within her reach. Precisely the kind of commonsense approach to making a living we try to encourage.) Toward that end, Mikala filled out the application, jumped through all the necessary hoops, and signed the S.W.E.A.T. Pledge, as all applicants must.
Rowe explained how the foundation evaluated her request. According to our internal ranking system, which is inherently subjective and relative to each batch of new applicants, Mikala scored a 94, and was awarded $2,100.00, or roughly 80% of what she asked for. This is typical of the average percentage awarded to an excellent applicant. As a rule, we almost never award the entire amount requested. We want our recipients to have some skin in the game, and we encourage all applicants to apply for additional scholarship funds elsewhere, which Mikala did. But in this case, if I had it to do over again, I think Id have awarded Mikala the full $2,700.00. Why? Because this woman is precisely why I award work ethic scholarships in the first place, as recent headlines prove. Headlines all over the country that identify Mikala Sposito as the sole welder to represent Team USA in the upcoming @WorldSkills Competition in Shanghai.
Rowe noted the magnitude of this achievement. This is a very big deal. The World Skills competition is often referred to as the Olympics of the skilled trades, so it looks like Mikalas dream is coming true after all. And it seems to me her journey is worth a brief encapsulation. Before she applied for a scholarship from mikeroweWORKS, Mikala demonstrated an affinity for welding in SkillsUSA. As a senior at Dexter High School, she won 1st Place at the SkillsUSA Michigan high school competition and went on to place 14th nationally. Then, as a freshman at Washtenaw Community College, she repeated her success by taking 1st Place in the Michigan college division. She then advanced to nationals, where she finished 8th in the country. That earned her an invitation to the Team USA pre-trials, which whittled the nation's top 16 young welders down to three. At the final USA Weld Trials at the Robotics Technology Park in Huntsville, Alabama, each competitor was evaluated on precision, safety, technical execution, craftsmanship, and multi-process capabilities under extreme time constraints. Mikala Sposito took the Gold, officially becoming the first woman to represent the United States in welding at WorldSkills. Next week, shell face off against the absolute best of the best from all over the world.
Rowe added that Sposito herself is not eager to be reduced to a gender narrative, even as her success sends an important message. I should point out that Mikala would prefer it if the press didnt make a big deal of her gender, and I completely understand. (Shes a welder not a weld-her.) But today, the industry is in desperate need of proof that women can and do excel in the trades. Nationally, just 4.3% of tradespeople are female. At mikeroweWORKS, our female applicants are closer to 20%, but I assure you that percentage could be much higher. Companies are anxious to recruit talented welders of any gender, and women need to understand and believe the opportunities are real. Mikala prove [sic] that in spades, and I want to offer her my sincere congratulations, and invite all of you to do the same. Because Mikala Sposito is exactly what our country needs a lot more of. People who understand that talent is never enough to compensate for laziness.
Her own words, quoted by Rowe, cut through the noise of entitlement culture. In her application, she wrote, Hard work beats talent any day of the week, and nobody is going to outwork me. Period.
She also embraced the full spirit of Rowes S.W.E.A.T. Pledge, especially its final tenet. She also connected with every point of the S.W.E.A.T. Pledge but said the final tenet resonated with her the most. Some people choose to be lazy. Some people choose to sleep in. I choose to work my butt off.
Rowes favorite line from her came in response to those who tried to chalk up her success to innate ability. My favorite quote, however, is Mikalas response to seasoned professionals who see her wield a torch and call her a natural. Im not a natural, she says. []Far from it. And none of this came easy. I worked and trained 60-80 hours a week for two years to get here.
Regardless of how she fares in Shanghai, Spositos future is already bright. Regardless of what happens in Shanghai, the job offers are already piling up, including the most recent from SpaceX. She hasnt graduated yet, but the future looks bright, and I for one would not bet against her.
Rowe even made a rare exception to his own rules to support her further. PS. I never do this, but since my name is in the title of the foundation, I suppose I can. Mikala please accept the additional $600 you requested from mikeroweWORKS two years ago. Shanghai is expensive, and since youre representing all of us, wed like to provide you with a little walking around money. The check is in the mail.
He closed with a simple charge that speaks to the competitive spirit at the heart of both sports and skilled trades. Nowgo get the gold!
The thread connecting King Randalls schools, Rodney Smith Jr.s lawn-care challenge, and Mike Rowes scholarship foundation is not politics but principle. These efforts are grounded in the belief that the children are our future. Teach them well, and let them lead the way, as Whitney Houston famously sang, and they rest on the conviction that the American Dream is still attainable for those willing to work, serve, and persevere.
Rowes assessment of young people like Mikala, and the stories of Isiah, Miles, Bentley, and countless others, offer a powerful rebuttal to the defeatism and dependency so often promoted by the left. I agree with Rowe. It is truly inspiring to witness these kids making things happen. Grabbing ahold of opportunity and the promise of the American Dream can take a young person places that they never expected.
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