His final grade will, of course, come at the conclusion of his internship here at the Connecticut Department of Labor and ultimately be decided by his Hartford Job Corps Academy instructors.
 
Mr. Freitas’ new friends in the Welfare to Work unit, where he’s assigned however, are already giving the young man high marks for efforts and calling the DOL-Job Corps collaboration – the first of its kind – a success.
 
Mr. Freitas, 19, an insurance/financial services student, actually graduated from the school on Aug.6 (he still has course work to complete.) He already possesses many of the traits any potential employer will be looking for, though, according to Programs and Services Coordinator Tracy Andruskiewicz, one of those with whom he is working.
 
“Freitas always “shows up early, does what is asked of him, and is always eager to do a great job,” she notes. “He’s been a big help.”
 
Besides Tracy and Administrative Assistant Marie Cianciolo, he is working under the direction of Programs and Services Coordinator Chris Flammia, DOL/Job Corps liaison who is outstation at the Hartford Job Corps Academy. Freitas  is providing clerical support three days-per week for a total of nine hours, and is here, explains Alice Frechette Johns, Welfare to Work Unit Manager as “part of a Work-Based Learning initiative that provides Job Corps students with the opportunity to learn on the job and prepare for the world of work in a meaningful way. Working from 9 a.m. to noon from Aug. 2 to 26, his duties include entering MoU’s (Memorandum of Understandings,) retyping training materials and putting together training binders. Our goal is to assist Mr. Freitas in gaining and practicing office skills with real work assignments.”
 
         “I first heard about the DOL Internship from one of my instructors, and thought it would be good experience” notes Freitas, who is certified in Microsoft Office. “So, I applied, came in for an interview (with Andruskiewicz and Cianciolo) and was told I’d gotten the position.”
 
          “He’s a pleasure to have in the office, always happy to help and assist with whatever he can,” Marie said.
 
An on campus resident of the Hartford Job Corps Academy, Mr. Freitas, who has been at the Hartford Job Corps Academy since 2009, first learned about the Job Corps program from a friend.  “I figured that it would be a good way for me to learn about the banking field, which I hope to eventually go into,” he said.
 
Mr. Freitas is  quite active in community life at the school, where he serves as vice president of the student government. He also recently returned from a leadership conference in Washington, D.C., where he met Edna Primrose, National Director of the Job Corps Program.

  

 Summer Worker: Mr.Freitas with Chris Flammia and Tracy Andruskiewicz.