Colleagues,
We received this interesting news from Tia Gerber, the Director of Community Partnerships at Whittier Tech. We are most pleased to share it with you.
David
Sparks Will Fly: A Profile of a MassSTEP ESOL Welding Program
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<![endif]>February 5, 2025
Written by: Erin Paszko, Program Director of Adult Education at Community Action, Inc. (CAI)
At the start of every welding class, ESOL students in Community Action’s-Whittier Regional Vocational Technical High School’s MassSTEP Welding Program, put on their welding jackets, helmets, and gloves, and head into their welding booths. Almost immediately, sparks begin to fly and sounds of hammering fill the air, as the students chip away at the slag, or a hardened metal byproduct that forms when arc welding.
Whittier’s MassSTEP welding instructor, Chris Gerber, moves from booth to booth providing guidance to students as they meticulously practice their learned welding techniques. The enthusiasm in the welding shop is palpable as students apply what they have learned in the abstract to hands-on skills training.
Although we are a new program and classes have only started in Jan., CAI-Whittier’s MassSTEP ESOL Welding Program has kicked off brilliantly, with energy and engagement from our partners and stakeholders, including DESE/ACLS, our employer partners, students, instructors, and the MassSTEP Program Advisor.
As an Adult Education Director, I cannot help but reflect on the program’s origins, which began merely as a series of conversations between myself and Tia Gerber, Whittier’s Director of Community Partnerships, over a year ago. Then, I was looking for a partner to provide hands-on occupational skills training for our adult education students. Fortunately, Whittier also had the goal of enhancing access to their workforce training programs to underrepresented adults in the larger Haverhill community. To witness this trajectory of a program from design to fruition (thanks to the MassSTEP planning and implementation grants) has been nothing but rewarding.
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<![endif]>Our first cohort of 9 students is remarkable. With classes every night of the week (three days of contextualized ESOL instruction and two days of welding), the level of commitment required for this 16-week course is demanding. Many students are currently working (two are working a full-time night shift) and some students have small children. Yet, the students see themselves as part of a team, working together to motivate and encourage each other. They have organized carpools, extra study help, and with the MassSTEP Program Advisor, connections to resources and services in the Haverhill area.
This collaborative, team spirit corresponds to outcomes, as all 9 students have earned their Hot Works credential, which will help students secure entry-level employment along a welding career pathway. In the remaining weeks, students will learn a variety of applicable and necessary welding techniques. Their integrated and contextualized ESOL classes will support their training.
Visits from our employer partners and trips to employer sites are being planned as well. Indeed, workforce preparation activities and job placement will become the primary focus of the course as we hope our students secure employment. If the last four weeks have been any sign of what’s to come, we are certain that sparks will continue to fly in our MassSTEP program.
David J. Ferreira
MAVA Communications Coordinator
DavidFerreira
