A New Passion

Finding your passion isn’t just a utopic idea, it’s about being consistent and tenacious with the goals that you set for yourself.  Before coming to JARC, Hugo was seeking personal and professional improvement. “Before JARC I went to the University. However, I only finished half semester.  I felt like, it wasn't for me anymore.” He was working at a retail store, when he realized that he needed to do something else. “I have to find myself a better job, but in order for that I need to get some qualifications.”

It was on Christmas evening when Hugo’s cousin approached him, he’s a welder so he started to talk about his job and what he currently does, and there -sitting next to him- Hugo found his new passion: to become a welder. “He started showing me all this cool stuff, and I was like, I want to do stuff like that.” Hugo decided to start a new career, so he went to his old high school looking for where to start, when one of his teachers told him about a student who went to JARC. Afterwards, he contacted that student, and she gave him all the information necessary to apply for our program.

Hugo said that starting in JARC’s Welding Fast Track Program happened really fast. “I love JARC. Since the first day, I knew I was going to love it.” JARC became his new family, inspiring him to do his best. “Everybody [on staff] was great. Ema was great. Emily, Darryl, I love them all.” Hugo was really motivated and he set up a goal to finish the program as soon as possible. “I was trying to go through everything as quickly as possible, math, OSHA, everything, so I could finally start welding.” During his training, Hugo also worked with JARC’s Senior Financial Coach. In addition to financial workshops, he also worked with her one on one to create a budget, review his credit score, and complete financial health assessments.

Driving by his passion for welding, Hugo was able to complete JARC’s program in three months and earned a credential through the American Welding Society: “I pushed myself to learn as much information as possible to get better. And then I ended up doing what I like. Anything is possible, it was just a matter of patience, time, and then just like the commitment to just do your best”. After the program, Hugo was hired at P&G Crane as a Welder making $18.00 an hour. “They mainly do welding, grinding, cutting metals, stuff like that. So that's what I'm working at right now. I love it.” Although, he’s preparing himself and getting some experience before starting to work with his cousin at the “Union, Pipe Fitters”.

When we asked him if he would recommend our program, he said that he’d definitely do it without hesitation. “JARC is like learning how to drive. Where you come in, not knowing anything, or very little, and then you're improving on it over with the time and practicing over and over again. You have to keep practicing, until you get a grip on it”.