Our goal is simple – to feature a student success story on each of our catalog covers.
This student would not need to be “extraordinary” nor would their story, just an ordinary adult who chose to continue their education by enrolling and successfully completing a Career/License program. Well, we discovered that there are many successful adults who have continued their education with Assabet After Dark and we are going to share their stories with you.
Meet Jescelle Marengo
First Responder Ready!
This woman is on fire! She is a mom, a CNA, an EMT, and an EMT Field Training Officer. Her journey has taken her all over the country and after working in hospitality and sitting in college classrooms, she realized that she wanted to help people and be on the front line.
As a Certified Nursing Assistant working in the ICU, she interacted with EMTs. She enjoyed their banter, their sense of humor, and how they balanced their work and life. Several years later, she found her way into Assabet After Dark’s EMT training class. Owner of MetroWest EMS Educators, Bob Gemma and his brother Tony were the EMT instructors. It was the right schedule with the right instructors. Their commitment to each and every student was a winning combination for Jescelle. Her testimony was spontaneous – “They were real guys that would level with you, my kind of people.”
The EMT class was not as easy as she thought and somewhat stressful. Students were encouraged to go home and practice, over and over. She convinced her 2-year-old daughter to play the patient and she practiced. Today, her daughter, age 5, knows how do compressions.
She remembers one class dedicated to learning how to think outside the box. The situation was that there were no more splints in the ambulance. The challenge was – what are you going to do? At the time, she really didn’t think it was an essential lesson, but when COVID-19 hit, she knew it was an essential skill.
Jescelle has found her passion and herself; preferring a fast paced, high stress position where she responds to people facing trauma. Each night when she returns home, she leaves her boots in the garage and drops her clothing into the washing machine before she enters her home. She and her daughter have found a routine that keeps the chaos at bay and allows them to be there for each other.
Meet Liniker Goncalves
Live and Grounded.
How do you decide what you are going to do when you grow up? Well, if you grow up in a family of tradesmen, you might just stay in the trades. The trades offer opportunities to work with your hands, your head, and your heart – a winning formula!
Liniker’s father, a carpenter and his cousin, an electrician, were his mentors as he started his journey. He worked with his father at the early age of 14 only to discover that carpentry was not his passion. So his father arranged to have him work as an electrical apprentice for a friend.
By the age of 18, Liniker had already earned his 8000 on the job hours and headed for the classroom to earn his 600 electrical code hours. By 20, he was a Licensed Journeyman. After a year of working under a Master Electrician, he decided he wanted his own company and took the Master Electrician class at Assabet After Dark where he met Derek Niemi, our Master Electrician instructor. He was well trained and passed his Master License exam on the first try.
In the classroom, Derek shared his life and work experiences with his students which made the class more memorable and established a professional connection between him and his students. In the field, Liniker learned that sometimes reality does not match the blueprint and you have to make it work so it helps to have a mentor to brainstorm and offer possible solutions.
Liniker is the Owner/President of L & G Electricians in Marlborough and has hired several friends who are Licensed Journeyman and apprentices. He is building a sustainable company and knows that it doesn’t matter how many times you fall; it is how many times you get up.
Meet Brittany Hamel
Trailblazer.
Meet Brittany Hamel, a trailblazer in her early twenties who runs her family auto body shop, started by her grandfather and his brother over fifty years ago.
Susan Conena, her Auto Damage Appraiser instructor nominated Brittany and stated, “Not only is she embracing her career of Auto Damage Appraising, she is also representing diversity of how women are now achieving big jobs in non-traditional fields.”
Brittany’s journey started at South New Hampshire University when she began her studies to become an elementary school teacher. Eventually, teaching shifted to business and she reevaluated her situation. With no gas money or prospects in sight, she was ready for options and accepted her father’s offer to work part-time at Hamel Brothers Auto Body Shop in Lowell where she practiced her business skills and continued her education. She loved the work and decided she wanted to manage the shop.
Fast forward, she enrolled in Susan Conena’s Auto Damage Appraiser class in Spring of 2018 and we met up with her this past June.
When asked what it takes to be a successful young woman working in a traditional male career, she replied, “Thick skin and people skills.” The combination of her confidence and ability to educate others allows her to explain how the appraisal process works so she can talk her customers off the ledge. Brittany builds trust with her customers by being helpful, using positive words, and relating to real world information.
Clearly, successful adults blend their interests and passions when navigating a career. Brittany has combined her love of education, business, and cars and paving the way for others.
