Big Ideas News

4-H Welding with Big Ideas
We continued our in-person classes at the CTE Center in New Ulm. Today’s class was welding with 4-H students.

Big Ideas Trailer with Russell Tyler Ruthton FFA Chapter
“Big Ideas Mobile Learning Lab Big Ideas Inc brings a new way to explore in-demand, high skilled trades jobs with interactive experience. Over 120 RTR middle and high school students used fully immersive virtual reality systems to introduce welding, industrial painting, CAT excavator and and Oculus based career exploration system housing over 20 trades simulations!”

A wonderful donation from Bank Midwest in New Ulm!
This past Monday Big Ideas was grateful to receive a donation from Bank Midwest and their team in New Ulm. Thank you for supporting our mission!

Apprenticeships
When it comes to learning a trade skill, there are several options. Many skilled trades paths include an apprenticeship. Apprenticeships are different from internships in several ways: 1) Most apprenticeships are between 1-3 years. 2) They are usually structured. 3) It includes a mentorship 4) Apprenticeships are paid positions! 5) They have an industry recognized

Education Options
Do you know the education options for the trades industry here in Minnesota? The Minnesota State System has a great interactive site for the education options you are looking for: Click here

Career Depth
Plumbing careers are available, from fixing leaky toilets to designing complex structural plumbing systems. If the assembly, installation, and repair of pipes that carry water, steam, air, or gases and installing heating and cooling equipment sounds interesting, this next part will WOW you. Minnesota Plumbers, Pipefitters, and Steamfitters have an Annual Median Salary of $80,439.

Big Ideas and CTE Open House
We want to thank everybody who came to visit the CTE Center’s Open House. Parents, teachers, students, and community members were able to see the CTE Center, and also see our Mobile Learning Lab in action! SouthPoint Financial donated $2,500!

Breadth of Careers within Industry
When we think of trade skills, most of us think:’ plumbers, carpenters, welder’ and while that is correct, skilled trades cover a much broader range of careers. Consider everything that goes into building a house. We see the carpenter that uses the nail gun, but we often do not see the person who engineers the

National Kid Inventor Day
The future belongs to the youth. Our goal is to engage curious minds of all ages. Did you know kids invented (or at least thought of) these items: Swimming flippers, popsicles, earmuffs, the braille system, trampolines, water skiing, and snowmobiles just to name a few. If your child shows passion for hands-on learning, visit bigideasusa.org/students

Blue Collar White Collar
The terms blue-collar and white-collar appeared first in 1920 to distinguish workers based on the color of the shirts they wore White-collar jobs are more corporate and managerial, while blue-collar jobs are often non-management but actual physical labor type of jobs There is purple, yellow, and pink collars as well.

Technology Day with Big Ideas!
National Technology Day on January 6th recognizes how technology changes the world and looks to the future of technology. With Big Ideas, Inc we understand the importance of technology. During the pandemic, we shifted our model from in-person classes to Virtual Reality and augmented reality training. The idea became so popular that we decided to take

2021 Recap
WOW, what a year 2021 was! 2021 was another year filled with ups and downs for everyone. It was no exception for us at Big Ideas. We started the year with in-person classes. We had a few successful months, then we decided to take learning down a different path… We started adapting the last technology into