Chase Stephens Works
Published on Thursday, October 9th, 2025
For the first time in its history, Montgomery Community College is proud to announce one of its students is the recipient of a mikeroweWORKS Foundation’s Work Ethic Scholarship. As an apprentice on the TV series Dirty Jobs, Mike Rowe traveled to every state and worked with plumbers, electricians, steamfitters, pipefitters, brick layers, farmers, fishers, and other skilled workers. Each year, his Foundation provides scholarships through the Work Ethic Scholarship Program to help students get trained for skilled jobs that are in demand. Since its inception in 2008, the Foundation has granted over $11 million in work ethic scholarships.
Chase Stephens, a second-year gunsmithing student at MCC, is the proud recipient of a mikeroweWORKS Foundation’s Work Ethic Scholarship. A native of Lexington, North Carolina, Chase graduated high school in 2012, then served as a radio operator in the United States Marine Corps. In addition to his radio communications duties in Kuwait and Bahrain, he became very familiar with firearms. When he left the service, Chase returned to North Carolina, earning as Associate Degree in Applied Science- Programming and Software Development from Forsyth Technical Community College. His interest in firearms continued, and online searches for a gunsmithing school brought him right to MCC, just an hour from home.
“I couldn’t believe there was a world-class gunsmithing school right here in North Carolina! I called MCC, met some of the instructors, and enrolled in the Introduction to Machining class,” explained Chase. “I did well, and have come to enjoy the manufacturing and repair processes of firearms. I am now a full-time student in the gunsmithing program.
The application process for a mikeroweWORKS Foundation’s Work Ethic Scholarship is quite extensive. In addition to providing personal references and answering numerous questions on the application, Chase had to sign the S.W.E.A.T. Pledge document (https://mikeroweworks.org/curriculum/) which stands for Skill & Work Ethic Aren’t Taboo. Of the 12 tenets in the pledge, the one that resonates most with Chase is #2, I believe that I am entitled to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Nothing more. I also understand that “happiness” and the “pursuit of happiness” are not the same thing. “I think this one stands out the most for me, because everyone should be able to do things, or pursue the things that make them happy. I’m very fortunate that one of the things that makes me happy, is something I’m able to do as a career through gunsmithing!”
Chase expects to graduate in May 2026, after which he hopes to join two peers in his class in opening a gunsmithing shop in the Winston-Salem area.