Name: Vashoine Orozco
Age: 25
Center: Cleveland Job Corps
Region: Chicago
Hometown: Indianapolis, IN
Career Area: Bricklaying
Dates in Job Corps: October 2, 2012 – January 28, 2014
Military Branch: Army National Guard
Employer: United States Postal Service
Determined to get his life together and build a career, Vashoine Orozco walked through the doors of the Cleveland Job Corps Center on October 2, 2012. Not fully grasping the concept of the Job Corps program initially, Mr. Orozco wanted to get a GED or High School Diploma and leave. However, after shadowing the bricklay-ing trade he was intrigued and wanted to learn more. Bricklaying would be a chal-lenge and he wanted to conquer it. Mr. Orozco’s values and leadership skills picked up in the trade, and he worked as the foreman on several projects. The structure and expectations of his instructor gave him a sense of responsibility and duty. He recalls how the students were challenged by the instructor to arrive earli-er than the students in any other trade. The trainees in Bricklaying were expected to arrive early, prepare quickly, and be ready to rock before the class bell even rang.
After graduating from the Cleveland Job Corps, Mr. Orozco went straight to the Army National Guard’s basic training in Fort Bennett, Georgia as an 11B Infantry soldier. As a member of the National Guard, he attends monthly and annual train-ing. Mr. Orozco relished about being out in the woods for days at a time in battle exercises and war games that simulated real war battle scenarios. He is currently working at the United States Postal Service making $17.23 an hour, when he isn’t in training. He likes the job because it has good pay and benefits. One of the bene-fits, is how working at the post office contributes to his service time for Army re-tirement. Mr. Orozco went from high school dropout with a dead-end job to Spe-cialist Orozco of the Army National Guard, to United States Postal Service em-ployee and having his own townhouse and a car. “The key to long-term success for Job Corps students is to take the program seriously and keep the mindset you de-velop at Job Corps when you leave Job Corps,” advised Mr. Orozco.