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W e d n e s d ay, n ov e m b e r 6, 2024
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Jan Risher LONG STORY SHORT
Big ships and tugboats
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Health care trainees Janeen Preston from John F. Kennedy High School and Laila Smith of Warren Easton learn to take vital signs like blood pressure. The New Orleans Career Center, at 1331 Kerlerec St., New Orleans, opened in the fall of 2018, offering tuitionfree career and technical education to high school students and adults.
PREPARING FOR SUCCESS N.O. Career Center’s tuition-free program includes a wide variety of options
BY EVA JACOB BARKOFF Contributing writer
Te’Mon Crawford’s interest in a career as an electrician might be traced back to 2021, when he saw Entergy employees making repairs to bring back electricity after Hurricane Ida. “I saw what Entergy was doing to help restore power, and I thought that this was something I could learn more about,” said Crawford, a graduate of Warren Easton High School. “I felt by learning about electricity, I would be able to make a difference to help the community.” Crawford will receive his electrical license next May thanks to a program offered by the New Orleans Career Center. The nonprofit NOCC, at 1331 Kerlerec St., New Orleans, opened in the fall of 2018, offering tuition-free career and technical education to high school students and adults. The first year, two programs were offered: medical assisting and engineering/manufacturing, with 134 trainees enrolled. Today, there are nearly three times that number. They’re high school students and adults who have enrolled in more than a dozen programs to learn culinary arts and hospitality management, patient care technician, licensed practical nursing, digital media, building trades and pharmacy tech. Amy Ferguson is an independent con-
NOCC culinary arts and hospitality management trainee Aubria Robinson works in the Career Center’s kitchen. sultant. NOCC is a client. “The high school trainees are from 25 New Orleans high schools and attend half-day every weekday, morning or afternoon, for the entire school year,” Ferguson said. “Adult training is also held every weekday, but hours vary by the career path they have chosen. Training is offered throughout the year, and the certificate varies depending on the area of study.”
studying in NOCC’s licensed practical nurse program. “The staff at the hospital were amazing … it was then I thought about going into nursing. “I was very nervous when I started at NOCC, but my instructors have encouraged me so much. They are giving me the confidence to move forward with my studies.” After her studies, she’s looking to the future. “When I become a nurse, I want to give Care and kindness my patients the same kind of care and Amarie Jones’ sister, Thayri, was born comfort like the nurses who took care of with a heart murmur. While her sister was my sister,” Jones said. Carlin Jacobs is NOCC’s chief program being treated by the doctors and nurses at Children’s Hospital, Jones said she was officer. He attributes the increase in enrollmoved by the care the staff gave her sis- ment to the additional programs available ter and the kindness that was shown to her and to word-of-mouth. “Our high school students are talking to family. “It was so hard to watch my sister go their friends about what they are studying through this and especially before and ä See CAREER, page 3G after her operation,” said Jones, who is
Some weeks are strange ones. This last one would fall into that category for me. My week started at a wonderful, restful and inspiring women’s spirituality and creativity retreat. From there, I came home to a flurry of activity. Now that I’m writing three columns a week, rather than the one a week that I’ve written for more than 20 years, the rhythm of my week has changed. For more than 20 years, I’ve simply lived my life and thought about how to connect its dots and come up with something meaningful for my Sunday column. Now for my Tuesday columns, I go out and do something — like taking a deep dive into growing grass at Tiger Stadium or rowing Bayou St. John with the New Orleans Rowing Club. For my Thursday column, I have to cook a new recipe each week and talk to the person who suggested the recipe as his or her signature dish (like an incredible leek lasagna recipe or Cobb Barksdale’s mother’s Pecan Sandies) before writing the column. Once home from the retreat, I had to get things done, dishes baked, columns written and stories edited before catching a flight to Corpus Christi, Texas, Tuesday evening for a women’s conference on Wednesday. Fortunately, in Corpus Christi, my hotel room had an incredible view of the harbor. For a few minutes early Wednesday morning, I had time to collect myself, sit in quiet and watch giant ships coming in and out. Water is my happy place. I especially love being on and watching boats. Sitting in the cool of that morning, I couldn’t help but marvel at a series of tugboats guiding ships, particularly the tiny tugboat helping a giant orange ship out of the dock and harbor. Closer to home, I’ve also marveled at tug boats and giant barges on the Mississippi River in Baton Rouge and New Orleans. Maybe it was because I had a few minutes to myself that morning in Corpus Christi, but the metaphor of the tugboat hit me powerfully. For big things to happen and get where they need to be, smaller things have to guide or push the big things along — all the while doing incredible, unseen work beneath the surface. To rephrase a childhood book, it’s like the little tugboat that could. I knew who to call to get the lowdown on the tugboat’s role in the operation I watched Wednesday. My new friend, courtesy of the Postcard Project, Rick Jordan is a ship captain. I sent him a
ä See RISHER, page 3G
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