A nationwide shortage of welders is plaguing the United States. In response to this reality, Tyler Sasse made the decision to develop an elite, competitive welding school in 2019. Western Welding Academy was founded in Gillette, Wyoming, a community historically associated with the coal, oil and gas industries.
Pipe Arc Solutions, LLC worked with Pinnacle Bank in Gillette to secure two USDA Rural Development Business & Industry (B&I) Loan Guarantees totaling $1.32 million to get the welding academy off the ground, which included the purchase of commercial real estate.
Sasse said, “According to the American Welding Society, there is currently a welder shortage of over 400,000 people. For every five blue collar workers that leave the trades, we only replace them with one. There is a massive shortage around all the trades, and we are trying to do our best to fill that gap.”
Western Welding Academy focuses on three principles: work ethic, accountability and integrity.
“Western Welding Academy differs from traditional welding programs because our curriculum is set up like an actual job site,” Sasse said. “Our instructors have real-world experience within the industry.”
The academy takes a unique approach to marketing and recruiting with an active social media presence and places an importance on face-to-face events. Its annual ‘Blue Collar Tour’ takes Western Welding Academy founder Sasse and instructors on a cross-country bus tour to recruit, stopping at high schools to talk to students about the experience the academy has to offer.
“We are driven to change the narrative of ‘you have to go to college to be successful.’ You don’t, and you can join a trade to be just as successful, if not more. There are massive opportunities in the trades, and it shouldn’t be an afterthought or a backup option,” Sasse said.

The academy has welcomed students from all 50 states, with 95% of current students coming from outside of Wyoming. This influx of students moving to Gillette brings money into the community while students work and live there.
“It offers a hardworking part-time labor force while students attend school. Post graduation, it offers local Gillette employers young, hungry, highly skilled welders that are able to tackle anything,” said Sasse.
To date, 1,122 students have graduated from Western Welding Academy. They go on to work at power plants, computer chip manufacturing plants, dairies, breweries, refineries, NASA, SpaceX, Tesla, and more. The elite welding academy has a national impact, with its students moving wherever they need to fulfill good paying jobs after graduation.
Sasse went on to say, “Last time I checked, Wyoming is responsible for 49% of the nation's energy supply and as our world shifts away to alternative sources of energy, there becomes a big hole in Wyoming’s economy. Western Welding Academy is filling that gap by bringing students here from all 50 states and we're really filling that big economic gap that resides in this community. That's something that I'm really proud of. The fact that Pinnacle Bank and USDA Rural Development believed in us and gave us the initial loan to get started is having a tremendous impact. When you throw a rock in a pond and you watch those ripple effects from that initial belief in our mission, still in motion today, it makes me proud to live in Wyoming.”
USDA Rural Development is committed to rural prosperity and helping businesses grow and diversify. To learn more about the B&I Loan Guarantee program, visit the website. The program can be used for a variety of purposes which include, but are not limited to: business development, debt refinancing, and the purchase of land, buildings, machinery, and equipment.