{"id":208340,"date":"2024-01-10T07:30:11","date_gmt":"2024-01-10T12:30:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/?p=208340"},"modified":"2024-01-04T14:43:51","modified_gmt":"2024-01-04T19:43:51","slug":"work-based-learning-programs-are-the-future-of-facilities-operations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/2024\/01\/work-based-learning-programs-are-the-future-of-facilities-operations\/","title":{"rendered":"Work-Based Learning Programs Are the Future of Facilities Operations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Jared Gauthier is yet another success story of the work-based learning programs that are sponsored by Facilities Operations at the University of Connecticut. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gauthier, now a skilled trades apprentice (utilities) within the Public Works Shop for the Facilities Operations Department, started working at UConn in 2022 when he was a senior at Ellis Technical High School, located in Danielson.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI was at UConn for two weeks at a time during my senior year when it was time for my shop program,\u201d says Gauthier. \u201cI would return to Ellis to take classes for two weeks. It was a great experience and I would recommend it to anyone. A lot of my younger classmates from high school are asking me about it now.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Following graduation, Gauthier was hired full-time at UConn as an apprentice. In that position, he does masonry work, cuts concrete and does paving. He did his work-based learning program in plumbing and decided to switch.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cEvery day is different here and that’s what I love about it,\u201d says Gauthier. \u201cThe other employees here are very open to let you learn. They are not judgmental at all and are very patient.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t know a lot about UConn growing up, but one <\/span>day a high school<\/span> guidance counselor <\/span>talked<\/span> to us about the opportunity to come work here. I didn\u2019t really have an understanding of it at first, but I applied and it worked out.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The job market in the trades is extremely competitive right now, and the work-based learning programs give UConn a jump on candidates. UConn has a pair of work-based learning programs, one of which brings in students from around the state\u2019s technical high schools, and another which employs UConn students. The goal of each program is to develop future UConn employees and also the workforce for businesses across Connecticut.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe work-based learning programs are the future of Facilities Operations,\u201d says Associate Director of Trade Services Michael Gorman, who has been at UConn for more than 25 years. Gorman helped start the program 10 years ago, and the programs now have about 30 UConn and high school students from Ellis, Windham Tech, and Norwich Tech. UConn Health has also started working with students from Prince Tech in Hartford.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJared has a great attitude and loves what he is doing in public works,\u201d says Gorman.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gauthier, who grew up in Griswold, grew up working heavy equipment such as loaders and excavators.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI want to set myself up for a great future as I get older,\u201d says Gauthier \u201cUConn is such a nice place to work with its beautiful campus.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Gauthier\u2019s work ethic and attitude caught the attention of Trade Service Manager Wesley Ayers right from his first days on campus.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cJared doesn\u2019t wait to be taught, he asks to learn,\u201d says Ayers. \u201cHe goes above and beyond what we ask him to do and he always wants to know more and more. We didn\u2019t want to lose him after he graduated from high school. He has really taken off with this opportunity.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The job market in the trades is extremely competitive right now and the work-based learning programs give UConn a jump on candidates<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":208345,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_crdt_document":"","wds_primary_category":0,"wds_primary_series":0,"wds_primary_attribution":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[2471,2193,2199,2461,2235,2225,2234,2233,2195],"tags":[],"magazine-issues":[],"coauthors":[2113],"class_list":["post-208340","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economic-development","category-hartford-county","category-new-london-county","category-staff","category-today-homepage","category-uconn-storrs","category-university-life","category-university-news","category-windham-county"],"pp_statuses_selecting_workflow":false,"pp_workflow_action":"current","pp_status_selection":"publish","acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-05-11 05:52:10","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208340","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=208340"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208340\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":208449,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/posts\/208340\/revisions\/208449"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media\/208345"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=208340"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=208340"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=208340"},{"taxonomy":"magazine-issue","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/magazine-issues?post=208340"},{"taxonomy":"author","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/today.uconn.edu\/wp-rest\/wp\/v2\/coauthors?post=208340"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}