Mike Rowe of Dirty Jobs Fame is Coming to South Dakota

Executive producer & show host Mike Rowe will be coming to South Dakota on September 20, 2018 to share his message of the importance of skilled labor.

As part of "A New Day in Tech" Rowe will speak with students and tour Lake Area Tech in Watertown, Southeast Tech and the Career and Technical Education Academy in Sioux Falls. He will end the day as the keynote speaker at the Junior Achievement 50th Anniversary banquet in Sioux Falls.

Rowe has had hundreds of jobs and relished his role as a chronic freelancer. He’s best known as the “dirtiest man on TV,” a title he earned on the hit TV series Dirty Jobs, where he traversed all 50 states; completed 300 different jobs; and transformed cable television into a landscape of swamps, sewers, and coal mines.

Dana Dykhouse, President of the Build Dakota Scholarship Board of Directors, says Rowe’s appearance is an excellent way to bring more national and regional awareness to the technical education opportunities in South Dakota.

“We have the same goal - training people to meet the ever-increasing demand for skilled labor,” said Dykhouse.

Similarly, Build Dakota pays the tuition and fees for qualified students entering high-need workforce training programs at one of South Dakota’s four technical institutes. Recipients are committed to give three years of full time employment in South Dakota in a high-needs field in exchange for the scholarship.

The Build Dakota scholarship fund began in 2014 with a $25 million gift from philanthropist T. Denny Sanford and matched by a $25 million future funds grant from Governor Dennis Daugaard.

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