Each week, staff at Wind River Job Corps nominates a student who has shown excellent behavior towards their academics and peers. To view all nominated students, click here.
Student finds herself on the right path
Choosing a career path is the same as choosing a life path. A young child may grow up thinking, “I want to be a fireman,” or an astronaut or an NFL quarterback. As they grow up, things change, and that life-path decision is often re-evaluated many times.
Auroura Fowler’s story, Wind River Job Corps’ Student of the Week, is a story of flexibility, addressing fears of change and resiliency, all necessary characteristics important to success.
Like just about every student at WRJC, Auroura came to center with some ideas about her training vocation of choice. After spending her first four weeks in intensive activities in career exploration, she re-evaluated and then made a decision. She would train to be a welder. With that, she developed a career path plan that spelled out her hopes and her potential future.
But then… learning to weld, working in the shop, being exposed to the real world of the industry, and weighing those experiences against her personal goals, Auroura changed her mind. And luckily, in Job Corps’ flexible and self-paced training system, this was a change that could be accommodated.
Today Auroura is thriving in the building construction technologies trade, where she is learning a wide variety of skills needed to maintain a large facility or campus. These skills include a bit of plumbing, appliance installation, painting, electrical, carpentry, cement work, HVAC and more. The leap to there from welding was not a big one, but for her, a more satisfying one… a better fit.
It is also a decision that brought Auroura full circle, so to speak. Her family in Littleton, Colorado, owns a construction business, so she has long been exposed to the kinds of activities needed to maintain facilities or build new ones. These are jobs she will have the work skills to succeed in upon graduation.
“We always hope every student finds their way, finds ways to improve and this young adult is definitely headed in the right direction,” says center director Dr. Kristen Benson. “This young lady has made big strides and I have had the opportunity to see her become more mature. She accounts for her decisions, and is quietly outgoing. To borrow from Dr. Seuss, “Oh the places she will go.”
After Auroura graduates, she plans on working in construction in Wyoming or Colorado with plans to one day own and run a construction company like her parents.
Congratulations Auroura Fowler on being selected as Wind River Job Corps’ Student of the Week.
WIND RIVER JOB CORPS serves up to 300 campus-based and non-residential students generally originating from the Rocky Mountain states. The center provides over 16 career tracks offered through eight vocational programs, including pre-apprenticeship opportunities. These programs have been determined and developed based on the current high-performing job market trends in the region. Included in vocational training are employability skills and community engagement. Wind River Job Corps is the newest of the 124 Job Corps centers located throughout the United States, opening in 2015. It is operated by the Alternate Perspectives, Inc. for the Department of Labor and is located at 4200 Airport Rd in Riverton, Wyoming.
JOB CORPS is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor. The program helps income-eligible young people ages 16 through 24 complete their high school education, trains them for meaningful careers, and assists them with obtaining employment. Job Corps has trained and educated over two million individuals since 1964. It is the largest nationwide residential career training program in the country and has been operating for more than 50 years.
At Job Corps, students have access to room and board while they learn skills in specific training areas for up to three years. In addition to helping students complete their education, obtain career technical skills and gain employment, Job Corps also provides transitional support services, such as help finding employment, housing, child care, and transportation. Job Corps graduates either enter the workforce or an apprenticeship, go on to higher education, or join the military.
API Alternate Perspectives Incorporated (API) is a certified small, woman-owned company with corporate headquarters just outside our nation’s capital. API’s mission is to help individuals and organizations achieve their goals and realize their dreams by providing them with new ways of thinking to create new ways of doing. API staff have extensive Job Corps experience in almost every aspect of the Job Corps program. The API Operating model begins with building a “positive normative culture” at each center defined by four norms: respect self, respect others, respect community, and strive for excellence. Students and staff at the Wind River Job Corps Center are expected to adopt and embrace these norms to learn, grown, and strive for continuous improvement. In addition to Wind River Job Corps, API operates the Westover Job Corps Center, and Shriver Job Corps Center, both in Massachusetts.