Our alumni spotlight shines on Logan Farr. Logan graduated from Monmouth Academy. He completed the Firefighting program at CATC in 2020. Logan attends Southern Maine Community College and was selected as a live-in student with the Topsham Fire Department. He has obtained his firefighting certifications, emergency medical technician (EMT) license, which are huge steps towards his goal of becoming a career Firefighter/Paramedic. He came to CATC with experience as a member of the junior firefighting program in Monmouth. His knowledge and experience, along with his positive attitude, made him a leader in the class. He has continued to work hard in college to meet his goals.
Our Alumni S
potlight for October 2021 shines on Zachary Tobias. Zachary graduated from Cony in 2008 and completed the Law Enforcement Academy program that same year. He joined the United States Army and served as an active duty Airborne Ranger for four years. He served 3 deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan. He is now works for the Augusta Police Department, and has been a Patrol Officer for the past 8 years. He is a member of the Crisis Intervention Team, Special Response Team, a Firearms Instructor and a Field Training Officer. He credits his time at Capital Area Technical Center with his Law Enforcement instructor, Mr. Peter Couture as extremely valuable for setting him on his career path. He says, “At CATC, I learned the tools needed to be a successful adult. Things like leadership, honesty, and keeping my nose clean.” He credits Mr. Couture for helping him find his personal moral compass of integrity. Augusta Police Chief Jared Mills says about the program, “Mr. Couture has taken the law enforcement program to an elite level in my opinion. It has become one of the most successful recruiting locations for our future team members here at the Augusta Police Department. This program provides the students with the skills and knowledge to start working as a law enforcement officer practically upon completion. We are so fortunate to have this gem of a program here in our capital city.”
Our Alumni Spotlight this month, March 2021, shines on Ross Young. Ross attended the Business Academy at Capital Area Technical Center and graduated from Cony in 2017. He went on to graduate from the University of Maine at Farmington. He is employed by New York Life Insurance Company as a Financial Services Professional. He also owns his own landscaping business, Ledgehill Landscaping. Ross says, “CATC allowed me to grow as a person and develop new skills that I would take with me for life. I was able to earn college credits while still in high school which enabled me to graduate college early and get a jump start on my career!” His supervisor at New York Life Insurance Company, Mr. Francis “Frank” Mesina says, “I sometimes tell agent and investment adviser candidates, “This is a winning team. If you do not consider yourself to be great, or aspiring to be great, please do not interview with us – you will just slow us down.” At New York Life we do not look to hire people who are simply good at sales. In our industry, that might result in a lawsuit down the road. Instead, we look for people like Ross, who have a history of success and believe that good people like to see good people succeed! When interviewing candidates, I ask myself two questions to see if they have what it takes to be upwardly mobile at the oldest, largest and highest-rated mutual Fortune 100 financial services firm. First, “Can I imagine myself working with this person?” And second, “Can I imagine myself working for this person?” Ross is a “Yes” for both, and I am very proud that he is the face of NYL in our community!”
Skyler Boucher completed 2 years of the Plumbing and Heating program with Mr. Nick Smith and graduated from Maranacook Community High School in 2020. He is employed as an Apprentice Plumber at Ranor Mechanical in Jay. Skyler said, “I didn’t want to go to CATC, but my parents had me give it a try. It was life changing. I knew I didn’t want to be working in a cubicle for the rest of my life. I found my career path.” Chris Fortier, Field Operations Manager at Ranor Mechanical said, “Skyler had been working at Ranor for about 3 weeks when he had to miss an hour of work to attend a student orientation at Central Maine Community College. The next day he saw me and asked when would be a good time to make up the hour of work he had missed. I told him don’t ever lose that work ethic. You can teach people a lot of things, but you can’t teach work ethic. This is why Skyler is the kind of employee we are looking for. He is reliable, hardworking and just an overall good person.”
Our Alumni Spotlight shines on Katrina Booth. Katrina graduated from Maranacook Community High School in 2016. She completed the Early Childhood Education program at Capital Area Technical Center during her senior year in high school. She originally took the Early Childhood Education program in hopes that it would help her further her future career in adolescent psychology. In order to make sure she had all her bases covered, she also signed up for a dual enrollment college course in psychology. These two course enrollments quickly taught her that this career path was NOT for her. She remembers loving her time with the pre-k students at CATC and in turn dreading her time in psychology class. Senior year in high school was really when her passion for education began. Katrina says, “My passion for teaching had never been apparent to me prior to my time at CATC. In fact, I recall saying earlier in life that I would never become a teacher, especially a high school teacher!” Now she sits at a desk in her very own High School English classroom at Winthrop High School. Katrina’s principal at Winthrop High School, Mr. Mark Campbell says, “We were fortunate here at Winthrop to find Katrina ‘Kat’ Booth in a large, competitive pool of applicants for our open English position. Kat has a strong command of her content which is evident through her lessons and her discussions with her department colleagues. Her ability to be an inspiring educator in all of her classes speaks volumes of her strengths. She has some tough assignments, but she is able to maintain a safe learning environment all while creating and maintaining positive relationships with her students. She is a first year teacher with the skill set of a veteran teacher. Winthrop High School is fortunate to have her on the team.” Katrina further says, “CATC sparked my love for education and I started college focused in Early Childhood Education because of the program and the people there. As I worked through my classes, I later found my passion for the secondary education setting and later changed my major. I can say without a doubt that without CATC, I don’t believe that my path would have taken the road that it did. Because of them I am able to sit here in my first year of teaching and say that I truly enjoy each day with my students in my classroom.”