You may have heard Mehran say that people are meant to be together. Being together and forming interpersonal connections builds relationships. And building relationships can lead to incredible results. Earlier this spring, Head of Facilities Scott Rogers was catching up with an old friend (Renita Marshall) who happens to run a local charitable organization in her spare time. He learned that her Renita Marshall Helping Hands Foundation had just decided to give grants to two women in non-traditional roles who were attending technical school at the Central Vermont Career Center (CVCC).
Since NLG was rolling out the annual intern program, and Facilities had identified a need to help educate young people entering the trades, the sparks flew and an idea was hatched. Introductions were made between Facilities and CVCC, and two women from the technical program came to the Montpelier campus for a half day job shadow. Both were immediately interested in spending some time with the NLG Facilities team on a more formal basis, and soon after that both were hired into intern / co-op positions which began on June 27th.
Madison Lantagne: Madison (or Maddie, for short) graduated from the CVCC plumbing program in June. She is working a 3 month, 40 hour per week internship with the Facilities team in the plumbing field while she looks for permanent full time work. During her time here, Maddie will learn some real world skills from Derrick, Tony, Pierre and Andrew, and will be better prepared to start her career. She has already been involved in helping hook up a new steam generator that will help power the dishwasher and steam kettles in the kitchen, and she’s learning about the maintenance requirements that are involved with operating the plumbing in a 500,000 square foot office building. Maddie is from Barre Town, VT, and enjoys antiquing and going for walks outside. In the below picture, Maddie is working in the kitchen on the steam kettles.
Kadence Morrie: Kadence (or Kady, for short) just finished her junior year at CVCC and will be starting her senior year in the fall. She will be with us all summer and throughout the next school year, working 24 hours per week as a co-op student in the building trades and carpentry field. This will allow her to get hands on experience while she continues to learn at CVCC through the duration of her senior year. Kady is working under the tutelage of Joe Blais, WJ Franks and Chris Manning. She has already helped Joe make radiator grill covers and plexiglass door plates, and will be helping paint some doors and touch up some barricades for Do Good Fest. Kady is from Washington, VT, and in her spare time enjoys wood working and country music. Fun side note: for those who know Joe Blais, you’ll know he is very involved in the local youth basketball scene (currently as a referee) and has some newspaper clippings on the wall of his shop. During Kady’s half day job shadow, one of the articles caught her eye. “Hey, that’s my sister…. and that’s me.” Yep, Joe had a newspaper clipping on his wall with a picture of Kady and her sister from youth basketball. In the attached picture, Katie is ripping boards to make table stands for the VT company picnic.
We are thrilled to have them join our team, and can’t wait to see what they both accomplish in the future!