Tobias graduated fourth in his class with a 4.65 GPA. His record included Advanced Placement courses, student leadership, National Honor Society, and three years inside Valley High School’s Engineering the Future program, where he studied engineering and metals, learned CAD, worked with CNC machines, and became the student other students counted on in the shop.

Engineering the Future is a magnet program inside Valley High School in Albuquerque, New Mexico, designed for students interested in engineering, computer science, architecture, wood technology, metals technology, JROTC, and business.

Tobias had done everything a high-achieving student was told to do. Because of that, he had choices.

He was accepted to several universities, including the University of New Mexico, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, Northern Arizona University, and others. He also received scholarship offers, including a full ride to High Point University in North Carolina. For a time, college seemed like an obvious choice. Then Tobias considered the bigger picture: the cost, potential debt, the years before he could earn a steady income, and his family.

His mother is a nurse at Presbyterian Hospital and the primary source of income for their family. His father, a former corrections officer, was injured in his previous job. Tobias is the oldest of four children.

There is a difference between wanting to leave home and knowing where you are needed.

Tobias knew.

So, he made a decision that was not easy, but it was clear. He stayed in New Mexico. Not because he lacked ambition, but because he had so much of it.

Tobias did not give up on college. He changed the order. He chose to go to work, become a member of SMART Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 49, begin the union’s apprenticeship training program, and take college courses online while earning an income.

“I do not want to get into any student debt,” he said. “I do not want to be struggling and paying off these loans later in life.”

He also did not want his parents to carry the financial weight of his education. “I feel like parents should not have to pay for your schooling,” he said. “You should be able to figure that out, especially with what you’re wanting to do in your life.”

He started working when he was 13 years old for AB Honest One Plumbing, Heating, and Cooling, a local company owned by a family friend from his church community. He began as a laborer, carrying materials and helping wherever he was needed. Over time, he watched, listened, worked, and learned.

The owner saw something in him: work ethic, capability, integrity. Tobias carried those habits into school. Now he is carrying them into the sheet metal industry.

Inside EtF, Tobias found the place where design and hands-on work meet. One project was a public stage mural for the Westside Community Center in Albuquerque’s South Valley. Tobias helped with the CAD work and blueprints, making sure the dimensions were right and the design could be cut, assembled, and installed correctly.

At first, he was still thinking about college. His former Valley welding instructor, Shawn Coffey, understood why. Coffey, now Outreach Coordinator for SMART Local Union 49 JATC, had taught Tobias at Valley. He knew Tobias had the grades, intelligence, and drive to pursue a traditional college path.

“Tobias is a fantastic young man,” Coffey said. “It took some work to help him see the opportunity in the trade because he was originally focused on college. Once he learned about detailing and how he could use his engineering mind in this industry, he became extremely interested.”

Coffey also knew Tobias was not the only one who needed to understand the opportunity. His parents had questions too, as most parents would. They wanted to know what their son would be learning, what kind of career path he would have, and whether this decision would support the future Tobias was working so hard to build.

Coffey sat down with them and explained the apprenticeship, the trade, the detailing opportunity, and Tobias’s ability to begin earning an income right away. Once they understood the path, they were fully supportive.

That was the turning point. Tobias was not being asked to walk away from his interest in engineering. He was being shown a career where he could use it.

Through Local 49 and signatory contractor Yearout Mechanical, Tobias learned that sheet metal was not only field work. It was also planning, coordination, CAD, problem solving, and technical design.

Then came Signing Day.

After Valley honored 60 EtF students for their pathways, the room shifted into Signing Day. One by one, students sat down to sign letters of intent. Eight EtF students signed with signatory contractors of Local 49.

For years, students have been celebrated for signing athletic scholarships or committing to universities. James Magofee, Director of Safety and Manpower for Yearout Mechanical, understood years ago that students committing to work, apprenticeship, and skilled trades careers deserve that same level of recognition.

As Tobias sat at the table and signed with Yearout, he knew he was making a real commitment. He was signing with an employer, stepping into Local 49, and beginning a career.

“I was definitely relieved and happy because I knew I was investing into my future,” he said.

The work Tobias will begin with Yearout as a detailer is a rare opportunity for someone coming directly out of high school.

“Less than one percent of applicants get the opportunity to begin in an office position as a detailer,” said Isaiah Zemke, Business Manager of SMART Sheet Metal Workers Local Union 49. “Tobias has earned a rare opportunity, and we are excited to see what he does with it.”

Cassandra Gonzales, Assistant Principal for Engineering the Future at Valley High School, is not surprised.

“Tobias is a great young man,” Gonzales said. “I believe in him. He was one of our strongest students, and he is capable of doing whatever he puts his mind to.”

Yearout saw the same promise.

“We are thrilled to have Tobias join our team,” Magofee said. “Of the nine students who signed with Local 49 contractors, he was one of five who committed to work with our company.”

Tobias started with Local 49 orientation the week after graduation. He will enter the sheet metal apprenticeship with advanced credit because of his experience in EtF. He will work, attend apprenticeship classes, and take college courses online.

It will be a full schedule, but Tobias does not seem like someone who is comfortable standing still. He has a restless kind of curiosity, the kind that wants to learn the next machine, skill, program, and process.

Grades matter. Scholarships matter. Recognition matters. But Tobias understands something else too. Work ethic matters more. “I want to be seen as somebody who is reliable and trustworthy and sticks to their word,” he said. “I am continuously ambitious and continuously push myself to grow.”

That is what the sheet metal industry needs. Young people who can think and work, understand technology, use tools, earn, learn, build, and belong to something.

For the sheet metal industry, Tobias Romero is a reminder that the next generation is out there. They are in engineering classrooms, metals shops, robotics labs, welding booths, CTE programs, and high schools across the country.

Some are college bound. Some are trade bound. Some, like Tobias, are smart enough to see they can do both. They just need someone to show them where their skills can go. Tobias found that place. Now he gets to build from here.

Editor’s note: Valley High School students also signing letters of intent that day with Local 49 signatory contractors were Nicole Campos, Santiago Gallegos, Allan Marquez, and Adrian Alvarez with Yearout Mechanical; Eli Hershey with JB Henderson; and Andres Andrade, Armando Silva, and Gabriel Carrillo with Butler Sheet Metal & Mechanical.