Stowers Machinery, in partnership with Caterpillar, has a scholarship program called “Think Big.” The scholarship pays recipients about $13 an hour to apprentice in the shop and reimburses tuition and other school-related costs if the student maintains a B average.
Workers alternate between working eight weeks at Stowers and going to school for eight weeks until they earn their associate degree, with the intent that Stowers will hire them full-time.
“This is a fantastic opportunity for someone, yet we have the hardest time giving away the scholarship,” says Rhey Houston, Stowers vice president and Chattanooga area manager. “We have a full-time recruiter who goes to every high school in the area, looking for potential scholarship recipients, and it is still almost impossible for us to fill the slots.”
This past spring, a young man who was interested in the scholarship contacted Stowers and was later awarded the scholarship during his school’s senior night. But he worked only a few days before telling his supervisor, “I’m not cut out for this kind of work every day.”
“Unfortunately, he is not the exception to the rule,” Houston says. “We have had several success stories, but they are fewer and farther between. It is baffling to me that people do not want to take advantage of an opportunity to work for a well-established company that pays well and offers full benefits including a 401k.”