Davies seniors ready to get to work

2024 graduates sign letters of ‘intent to hire’ with local companies

LINCOLN – Davies Tech senior Dante D’Amico seemed relaxed and quite confident mere minutes before signing an “intent to hire” certificate with All Phase Contracting, LLC, of Chepachet on Thursday afternoon.

In a nutshell, at the tender age of 18 and still three weeks away from graduation, he’s going to work as a electrician’s apprentice. Still, he seemed unfazed by the enormity of the moment.

“I’m skipping college; I’m going to straight to work, and I can’t wait,” the North Providence resident said as he and several classmates waited for this year’s Davies’ Career Signing Ceremony to begin inside the Patriot Room. “I was thinking I could go to college anytime in the future. It’s not something I have to rush into.

“I’m not afraid to pursue a career; I know I’m young, but I also feel like I’m all set because I’m prepared,” he added. “I prepared for it right here in school and at All Phase with all of my hours of work-based learning. I can’t wait; I’ll be doing residential and commercial work, fire alarms, you-name-it. It doesn’t feel weird at all.”

Classmate Mia Joseph of Pawtucket, who like D’Amico majored in Electrical and Renewable Energy at Davies, concurred. She will be working with him at All Phase.

“My initial plan was to go to the Community College of Rhode

Island and get my general education degree, meaning I would have all of my English and math credits and I could jump right into my major,” she said. “But then I landed this job and thought, ‘Why not?’ I really like it. When I was doing my work-based learning with All Phase, I had some really get teachers in my bosses, Sam David and Joe Olobri.

“We’ll start working in early June, before we graduate, and I’m thrilled. I like working, staying busy. There’s still tons to learn; I’ve only scratched the surface.”

According to All Phase Co-Owners David and Olobri, Kathryn Dacier, Davies Career Coordinator for the Office of Workforce Development, recommended D’Amico for work-based learning, and they “found” Joseph after hiring him.

“Kathryn puts on a really good program; she’s the one who talked us into Round 2 and hiring Mia,” said Olobri, himself a 2005 Davies Tech grad. “These are young kids who have really good work ethics, and Davies turns out really good apprentices. We’re lucky and fortunate to have that.”

School Director Mary Watkins greeted the approximate 18 seniors on hand to sign their intent to hire certificates and their family members, but also the Davies partners who agreed to accept them into their work communities.

Supervisor of CTE Susan Votto then explained to the audience that this graduating class accumulated a whopping 58,568 workbased learning hours, which is more than Patriots Nation ever had before. In fact, that was 14,796 more hours than the previous year, marking an astonishing 94 percent increase from 2021.

“That showcases our students’ commitment to gaining practical experience and preparing for successful careers,” she said. “Additionally, we are proud to announce that 16 students from the Class of 2024 have achieved membership in the prestigious 1,000 Club, having accumulated over 1,000 hours of work-based learning.”

Those signing with companies in the Electrical & Renewable Energy field, besides D’Amico and Joseph, include Pedro Ponceano of Pawtucket (Izzo Electric of Warwick); Anthony Varela of Pawtucket (A&G Electric of New England/Riverside); Anthony McGowan of Central Falls (Alpha Electrical Contractors, Inc. of Providence); and Aiden Cote of North Providence (Tower Hill Electric in Cumberland).

Ponceano mentioned he began as an apprentice at Izzo Electric back on Sept. 13, 2023, and just loves it, as he’s already got 440 hours of work-based learning.

I’m going to night school at Roger Williamns University to become a journeyman electrician. I need to complete three years of certification, so I’m well on my way,” he said. “Working with Izzo provides me the opportunity to follow my passion and do electrical work.”

In the Machine Technology industry, Pawtucket’s Nathan Desimone, Cumberland’s Antonion Montoya, Johann Perez-Medina of Providence and Central Falls’ Matthew Restrepo all signed on to work with Greystone of Lincoln, while Central Falls’ Eduardo Villasenor will go to work for Fielding Manufacturing in Cranston.

In the Automotive field, the seniors include Cumberland’s Justin Emond (Balise of North Attleboro), Pawtucket’s Luiz Cruz (Planet Auto) and Central Falls’ Cesar Coteron (Tasca).

As for those involved in the Health Careers major, three signed on with The Lighthouse of Lincoln as CNAs, including Central Falls’ Eliza Reed and Elizabeth Tobon and Paw-tucket’s Sheilyn Matus; and two more with Oak Hill Center in Pawtucket, among them Pawtucket’s Angela Mallywanga and Brianna Rosado.

“This is so exciting because we’re still young students, but we’re going to be making good money,” Tobon said. “We’re also getting to experience something that a lot of young people don’t typically see, and that’s seniors who are suffering from Alzheimer’s Disease and dementia. We’re there to help them, and because of work-based learning hours, now we do.

“My mom was a CNA, and I remember always coming home and talking about it, and it intrigued me. She also would practice on me for her CNA exam, so I fell in love with it.”

Reed admitted working 30 hours a week at The Lighthouse, and that trying to balance her work and classes was rather difficult. She said she’d work 3-10 p.m., so once her patients went to sleep, supervisors would allow her time to catch up on her homework.

“I got paid $21 an hour when I was doing workbased learning, but now I’m full-time, so I’m hoping I’ll make more,” Reed said. “What I like about this job is when working with dementia residents, you see a lot of different emotions – anger, sadness, hopelessness – but when you’re able to cheer them up and put a smile on their faces, that makes me feel so good.

“There’s nothing like it,” she continued. “It feels great, I feel accomplished. While I was growing up, I never thought I could be a CNA; my mom would always come home and complain about the workload, but once you’re in that environment and you see the help you give people, it’s awesome. You see there’s so much more to it. It’s all about the people.”

Matus called this signing a “big stepping stone to what I want my future to look like.

“I actually don’t want to do nursing the rest of my life; I’d eventually like to go into dentistry, specifically dental hygiene,” she said. “I don’t know why, really, except it piques my interest. Then again, I’m open to all sorts of medical careers. It could be anything, but this helps get me on my way.”