Mobile Virtual Reality Workshop Introduces Students to Good Jobs

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Sep 1, 2021

BE PRO BE PROUD VIRTUAL REALITY MOBILE WORKSHOP - The massive Be Pro Be Proud trailer made its way to Rison and Woodlawn High Schools giving students an opportunity to see and test out through virtual reality some of the high-paying skilled and technical positions available in the workforce. (Left Photo) Rison High School's Tyler Hudman (in seat) tries his hand at using an excavator to load a dump truck while fellow students Noah Derrick (left) and Blaine Dixon (right) look on. (Right Photo) Woodlawn High Schools Dylan George (left) watches David Farrer put down a welding bead inside the Be Pro Be Proud Mobile Workshop.

Right behind that student is another throttling a locomotive up an incline while another is trying their hand at laying down a welding bead. Another student, meanwhile, is strapped in the seat of a semi wheeling it through a simulated town.

All of that – and more – was taking place inside the Be Pro Be Proud Mobile Workshop, a massive $1.2 million virtual reality trailer that made stops at Rison High School and Woodlawn High School last week.

Austin Slater, a Woodlawn graduate who is communications manager for Be Pro Be Proud, said the purpose of the rolling workshop is to give students an idea of the high-paying professions that are out there right now that don’t require a four-year college degree and the huge student debt that can often go with it.

Be Pro Be Proud is a workforce development initiative led by the Arkansas Chamber of Commerce/Associated Industries of Arkansas (AIA). The purpose of the program is to connect students around Arkansas to the high-tech, high-pay careers that are available right now shortly after graduating form high school.

While Slater stressed that Be Pro Be Proud is not in competition with four-year colleges and universities, he said they do want to expose students to some alternatives that offer good-paying jobs without having to sink a lot of money and time into school and/or training.

Those technical professions featured in the Be Pro Be Proud movement are automation/robotics, CAD/CAM operator, carpenter/construction, commercial truck driver, computer programmer, CNC operator, deisel technician, electrician, fiber optics, heavy equipment operator, HAVCR technician, linemen, machinist, plumber, tool and die maker, and welder.

Austin Harp, a 2017 graduate of Greenbrier High School, was on hand when the Be Pro trailer made its stop at Rison last Tuesday, Aug. 24. Harp told the students earned his welding certification in a little more than four months at a school in Quitman. fA week after finishing the school, he said the school placed him at a job out of state, and was soon earning $2,500 to $3,500 a week as a welder.

Slater said it’s those kind of stories they want students to hear and see from their peers first hand. “When they see that person driving around in a new truck with a new four wheeler, it makes them (others their same age) want to do the same thing,” he said.

And Slater points out that jobs featured in the Be Pro Be Proud trailer are in high demand right now.