Wanting to continue to make a difference is what drove Eddie Hakim out of retirement and back into the Job Corps classroom.

After 21 years working for the Home Builders Institute at Job Corps Centers all over the region, Hakim called it a career. But after a two-year hiatus, he is back teaching students again as the new Facilities Maintenance instructor at the New Haven Job Corps Center.

“After working all those years, my body was tuned to waking up at 4:30 every morning,” he explained. “I’d have my coffee, do a few things, and then ask myself, ‘What am I gonna do now?’ I needed a purpose again.”

So when his old HBI boss called one day and asked if he’d like to take the FM opening at NHJCC he jumped at the chance. “I came here thinking I could make a difference and I’m already doing that,” Hakim said. “I told my students from the start, ‘I’m going to push you like you’ve never been pushed before. ‘ Well, they’ve risen to the challenge.”