TUSCALOOSA COUNTY, Ala. (WBRC) – A nationwide tour to inspire and replenish America’s workforce visited West Alabama recently.

High schoolers from Tuscaloosa County Schools got a closer look at what a career in welding could look like for them.

Professionals wanted to show that younger generation what it’s capable of achieving with the right training.

“I wanted to come out and check this stuff out because my career interest is welding. So I wanted to come out and get a firsthand look at welding and, I guess you could say, see how they do it,” Giovany Lagunes, a Holt High School student, explained.

The Blue Collar Tour stopped at Tuscaloosa County’s Hillcrest High School as part of a 60-day, 30-stop nationwide tour from the Western Welding Academy in Gillette, Wyoming.

Members of that crew go to high school campuses to showcase different trades to students.

More than 250 students from the Tuscaloosa County School System attended the event to learn more about the welding business.

“Everybody acts like blue collar is a plan B and it shouldn’t be. It should be a plan A, not a plan B situation. You can make good money right out of school with zero college debt,” Justin Lafond with the Blue Collar Tour told WBRC.

The Blue Collar Tour also uses pros in HVAC, carpentry, plumbing, and other fields to show students other career pathways besides attending four-year colleges.

The goal of the tour is to encourage students to consider working in those fields as the people currently working in them age out and retire.