FOUR NOCC SENIORS ACE ENGINEERING/MANUFACTURING TRAINING AND HEAD TO LSU

ACE Mentors Program trainees Giancarlo Casalegno, Clarence Cotton III, Rashad Thornton and Kameryn Washington all start LSU in the fall with scholarships resulting from their ACE Mentors participation and individual achievements.

NEW ORLEANS, La.– Giancarlo Casalegno, Clarence Cotton III, Rashad Thornton, and Kameryn Washington spent their senior year at New Orleans Career Center designing a sustainable electric go-kart track for New Orleans youth under guidance of their ACE Mentors and NOCC instructors. The collaboration and the work have paid off. All four will head to LSU in the fall to study engineering and architecture. Collectively, they’ve earned more than $20,000 in merit scholarships to help pave the way.

Cotton, Thornton and Washington received scholarships from the Palmisano Foundation, the charitable arm of WJ Palmisano, which aids students interested in the architecture, engineering and construction professions.

Cotton and Washington also received scholarships from the ACE Mentors Program, which pairs working professionals in architecture, construction and engineering with high school students to inspire and engage them to pursue careers in those fields.

Thornton plans to pursue a degree in civil engineering, Cotton has declared a mechanical engineering major, and Washington hopes to enter the architecture program.

Casalegno, who will graduate from New Orleans Maritime & Military Academy (NOMMA), has received Flagship Scholars award, Innovation Scholarship and Academic Excellence Scholarship from  LSU where he plans to pursue a degree in computer science.

“One of the biggest things I’ve gained at NOCC is confidence,” Cotton said. “Confidence that I can solve problems, that I can make it through LSU and get my degree, that I can be an engineer like I want to be and have that career.”

While at NOCC, all four ACE Mentors participants earned Autodesk® Inventor certifications and completed introductory engineering courses through UNO’s College of Engineering.  

New Orleans Career Center trainees choose career prep and technical education from among engineering/manufacturing, healthcare, culinary arts/hospitality management, building trades, and digital/IT pathways. They attend NOCC half-day, every day, for the entire school year, for one to three years.

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CREDENTIALS MEAN CONFIDENCE FOR NOCC SENIORS STARTING CAREERS AND COLLEGE

Pre-Nursing Instructor Jeraneta Davenport, Class of 2023 Sophie B. Wright graduates and NOCC certified Patient Care Technicians, Kelsie Tero, and Cynthia Tejeda with Dean of Students, Ashley Jones.

Record number of trainees earn professional certifications.

NEW ORLEANS, La. – More than 100 seniors from 18 of the city’s public high schools are graduating with more than a high school diploma because they spent half the day, every day at New Orleans Career Center (NOCC). This year 114 seniors earned professional-level, industry-based credentials at NOCC – more than in any prior year – in healthcare, engineering/manufacturing, and culinary arts and hospitality management. Many of them also earned college credits through UNO and Nunez Community College, placing them ahead of their peers toward degrees.

“My Autodesk® Inventor certification and the college engineering courses I took while I was at NOCC, plus our classes and projects, gave me the confidence to know I’ll succeed at LSU,” said Clarence Cotton III, a Warren Easton Charter High School Class of 2023 graduate. Cotton will start LSU in the fall majoring in Mechanical Engineering. “If I weren’t going to LSU, with my Inventor certification I could go out and get a job I could support myself with right now.”

He is one of 17 NOCC engineering/manufacturing trainees to graduate with this certification.

In NOCC’s healthcare pathways, 30 seniors earned the Certified Clinical Medical Assistant credential and 41 earned the Certified Patient Care Technician credential. Both certifications qualify them to enter high-demand healthcare career paths well-positioned to succeed. 

Twenty-six culinary arts and hospitality management trainees earned credits from Nunez Community College. More than half of those (15) earned Nunez’s Culinary Arts Certificate of Technical Studies, for which 30 hours of coursework is required across core and major courses and a C or better grade.

“These credentials and industry-aligned training give our graduating seniors important advantages over their peers,” said Carlin Jacobs, NOCC Chief Programs Officer. “They’re immediately employable in well-paid, high-demand jobs with real, achievable career ladders. Those who want to go on to college have the skills to work in their desired fields while in school, start gaining work experience at an earlier starting point, and take advantage of tuition reimbursement opportunities to help pay their tuition.”