Liam Carhoff, Diesel Mechanic and Scholarship Winner

Try, try, try

When Liam Carhoff was growing up, his great uncle — who was a transportation worker for DOT Foods — stopped by Tiffin, Iowa one day and called Carhoff’s mother to come and say hi during his break. Carhoff was impressed by his big rig and what it could haul.

Today, the Tiffin native is following him into the diesel industry. He’s just finished the first year of an Associate of Applied Science degree in Diesel Technologies at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

Carhoff feels well-prepared for a career as a diesel technician and mechanic.

“As of right now, I feel pretty comfortable in my ability to talk about diesel engines and mechanics as a whole,” he said. “If someone put me in a shop, I would feel decently knowledgeable and able to work on these things on my own.”

That training was made possible by the Mike Rowe Work Ethic Scholarship and a handful of other awards he used to fund his studies.

“By the end of my junior year, my parents were like, ‘William, you need to get off your behind, and you need to put your name in for this scholarship,”

Going into the skilled trades was a natural fit, even if it wasn’t obvious at first.

Carhoff grew up fixing vehicles with his dad, who is a civil engineer. He had the grades to go to a four-year college to study engineering. However, he also had reservations.

Studying engineering could mean leaving his close-knit community in the Corridor, the Cedar Rapids-Iowa City region. He might also have to move away from hands-on learning to more theoretical studies, including math, which he did not enjoy as much. And it meant higher tuition.

He decided against pursuing engineering.

He learned about other options from college recruiters, family, and his high school counsellor.

A representative from the Universal Technical Institute (UTI), a vocational school in Lisle, Illinois, encouraged Carhoff to study diesel mechanics. He started seriously considering it.

However, Lisle sits on the southwestern outskirts of Chicago, which is a three-hour drive away from Tiffin. To Carhoff, going to UTI would mean moving away from his community.

At that time, he had also started taking agricultural science dual-enrollment classes at a local community college, Kirkwood Community College. He found himself really enjoying it.

“I like their instructors, their passion,” he said. “As much as the Universal Technical Institute is great, I’d rather stick with community college, something I’ve known for a while. Eventually I decided, you know, let's just do Kirkwood.”

By the time senior year applications came around, Carhoff’s heart was set on staying home to study diesel mechanics at Kirkwood.

The two-year associate’s in Diesel Technologies at Kirkwood costs $29,024 each year (2026/27 AY). After tuition, which is priced at $16,259 for in-state students, the greatest expense is paying for tool sets, which costs $10,250.

So, in his junior year, Carhoff started looking into scholarships. He signed up for a free account with Scholarships.com, and applied for at least 18 awards.

He heard about the Mike Rowe award from his parents, specifically his mother.

When he was younger, Carhoff enjoyed watching Mike Rowe’s TV show, Dirty Jobs, at his grandparents’ place in Carthage, Illinois. He was excited to see that the foundation behind the familiar face could also fund his studies.

However, when he first looked into the scholarship, Carhoff was hesitant about applying.

“This might not be something I want to do, because the chances of actually getting a national scholarship are kind of slim, in my eyes,” he said. “I'm sure for other people, it's a lot easier.”

His family still encouraged him to apply.

“By the end of my junior year, my parents were like, ‘William, you need to get off your behind, and you need to put your name in for this scholarship,’” he said.

It turned out that he was well-qualified for it.

Throughout high school, Carhoff had held various jobs, including a long-standing gig at Jon’s Ice Cream Store, where he was promoted to shift lead and directed other employees. He also worked at a chiropractic company, where helped file repair orders and new purchase orders.

He was able to discuss these experiences in his Mike Rowe application, which he prepared with the help of his academic advisor.

Finally, after sending the application, it was time to wait.

In August, Carhoff went on a camping vacation to the Michigan state parks with his mother and his aunt. On the way up, they stopped in Holland, Michigan. While everyone was relaxing and beginning to prepare dinner, Carhoff saw a notification pop up on his phone.

It was from the Mike Rowe Foundation: They were informing him that he had won scholarship money.

At first, he didn’t process the information.

“So I turned to my mom, I was like, ‘hey, I got this.’ And her eyes exploded. She was like, ‘how are you not more excited?’”

He double-checked who the email was from before the message sank in. Then, he realized what had happened: “I got the scholarship!”

Carhoff also received a collection of smaller scholarships, including a scholarship from his employer at the ice cream store.

“He was interested in giving me the scholarship for my work ethic in the ice cream shop and just my overall moral character,” he said.

Today, Carhoff is using his scholarship funds to finance the cost of his technical training. The Mike Rowe award was able to cover the expenses of buying tools and necessary equipment.

“I was able to get all of my tools for my classes and for my career that easily, and then plus some,” Carhoff said. “I don't believe there's any words that can describe how thankful I am of the Mike Rowe foundation.”

Smaller scholarships have paid for books and other expenses.

Today, he is putting that knowledge to work in his current internship at Don Hummer Trucking in Homestead, Iowa.

Carhoff’s advice to students who are applying for scholarships is not to hold back, and to put their name in when they least expect to win.

“Even if you don't believe that you're going to get anything for a scholarship and whatnot, try, try, try,” he said. “I didn't expect anything out of it, and I got great things.”