Newsletter Story - August 2, 2011

Job Corps Honors

Michelle Johnson, a carpentry graduate of the New Haven, Conn., Job Corps Center, was selected by the National Office of Job Corps as the first ever recipient of the Better Occupational Opportunities for Tradeswomen Award for exhibiting "skills and abilities necessary to succeed" in a nontraditional career field. Pam Livingston-Lewis, a welding instructor at Weber Basin Job Corps Center in Ogden, Utah, received Job Corps' first annual Paramount Instructor Award in recognition of her passion for teaching, length of service, and ability to connect with her students.

“Ms. Johnson, a young mother, has excelled in her trade, earned the respect of her peers, and exhibited poise and self-confidence,” said Job Corps National Director Edna Primrose in presenting the award to Johnson at a departmental apprenticeship event on August 1. She added that Johnson “is a testament to Job Corps’ commitment to Registered Apprenticeship and to preparing students for long term employment with career building growth and earnings potential.”

In winning, Johnson received an upgraded carpentry tool set and a hand-carved work boot statue. Johnson said she hopes to become “a standard bearer for females” entering nontraditional career fields and recommends that students “never give up – stay focused and be determined to succeed.” Johnson now works as an apprentice carpenter in Connecticut.

Primrose said that Livingston-Lewis overcame early challenges to succeed in her career and “triumphed not only as a welder, but as a teacher, mentor, and role model for other women trying to succeed in the industry.”

Johnson and Livingston-Lewis were selected from a nationwide pool of candidates by a panel of Job Corps, the Office of Apprenticeship and Women’s Bureau representatives.

Job Corps also gave B.O.O.T. “Diamond Awards” and certificates of recognition to five student runners-up. The students and their field of study are:

• Johanna Clendenning, Red Rock Job Corps (Pa.), plumbing
• Gabrielle Barber, Gainesville Job Corps (Fla.), facilities maintenance/solar training
• Lateisha Raven, Guthrie Job Corps (Okla.), carpentry
• Andrea Williams, Excelsior Springs Job Corps (Mo.), painting
• Alyssa Negrete, Tongue Point Job Corps (Ore.), carpentry