Career Paths Opened At ConnCAT

The opportunities must have sounded too good to be true for Alfred Washington, Elizabeth Cropper, and Shayne Miller. 

But there they were, as part of an open house hosted by the Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology (ConnCAT).

Washington, a trainee on the cusp of an internship at a New Haven biotech company, was discussing the separation of protein molecules based on their size and electrical charge. Cropper, an instructor, was demonstrating blood draws in the phlebotomy lab. And Shayne Miller, a Culinary Arts Academy grad, was offering guests a cup of green tea lemongrass ice cream artfully wedged with a sesame seed cookie that he had earlier created.

Together, they represented the host of educational and employment opportunities afforded by programs at the Science Park institution in Newhallville. 

“What we offer is the chance for people to change careers, or find careers, whether they’re unemployed, underemployed, or searching for something new,” said program manager Steve Driffin during Thursday evening’s open house. ​“And the most beautiful thing is that it’s at no cost. You just have to show up and do it.” 

That describes Washington who, along with Lanaja Carr and eight other trainees, just completed four months of laboratory training as part of the first cohort of BioLaunch, a three-year pilot by ConnCAT in partnership with Yale University that began in February and is aimed at training New Haven residents for placement at local biotech companies. 

The training, at Yale’s West Campus, ran from Monday through Friday from 8:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., he said. 

“We did pipetting, we worked with gels and different proteins, we dealt with gene expression,” Washington said. ​“We had homework, exams, presentations. It was very intense.” 

OrLando Yarborough III, program director at ConnCAT, said BioLaunch, which is funded in part by the state through the CareerConneCT program, is an effort from the industry side ​“to create a pathway that doesn’t currently exist for non-college degree, historically underrepresented, residents.”

He said there are functions within a biotech company at the entry level that don’t require a four-year degree, ordinarily a prerequisite for employment. ​“This is the industry trying to identify those opportunities and make them available.” 

It’s an initiative, he said, that has the potential ​“to transform two groups — New Haven residents by getting them into a field they may have thought they couldn’t get into, and biotechs, by giving them a work force they don’t currently have.” 

Erin Pinsince, formerly a science educator in Milford, said she was brought on as a learning experience manager to provide ​“quality control” in the training process. 

“The local biotechs determine what the need is in their companies and develop a curriculum for that, and I was brought on to manage the learning experience in the curriculum so we can go back to them and say we have these individuals trained to do what you need,” she said, adding that cohorts begin in the spring and fall, and applications are open.

She said the ConnCAT staff worked with the trainees, helping them build resumes and with professional development like networking, as well as clothes shopping in preparation for the Yale Innovations Summit in early summer.

The goal, she said, ​“is that our trainees will be offered either at their internship company or another biotech or pharmaceutical company here in New Haven so that they can have sustainable, secure, well-paying jobs.”

Brionna Davis-Reyes, the head trainer and lab operations manager at BioLaunch, praised Washington and Carr, as well as the other trainees. 

“When they came, they were nervous, a lot of them come from underemployed and underserved communities so they were unsure if they could do it,” said Davis-Reyes, a Ph.D. in biomedical sciences who did her postdoc at Yale. 

“In these months, I’ve seen how they’ve blossomed and bloomed into feeling confident and sure of themselves that they can do this.” 

Washington said he was studying biochemistry at Gateway when he first heard about the program. 

“I have a mother who’s dealing with cancer, so I’m interested in getting into cancer research,” he said. His dream job, he said, ​“would be working for the NIH, finding solutions that help cure cancer.” 

The program made him realize that ​“I’m capable of more than I thought I was,” he said.

Over in the computer lab, lead instructor Cody Norris was fielding questions from a grandmother eager to place her nine-year-old in the graphic arts afterschool program. 

“It definitely depends on the nine-year-old,” said Norris, who teaches arts and technology, 3‑D printing, music production, and digital art in both ConnCAT’s summer and afternoon programs. ​“If he’s eager to learn, then I’m eager to teach, and this is a place for him. I’ll always have a place for him.” 

Norris demonstrated Photoshopping an eyeball on a face for a visitor. ​“You just click on an eyeball, you can change the color of the eyes,” he said.

He said he tries to teach his kids to draw images from the public domain. 

“You can do the most creative things without someone sending you a cease and desist order,” he said. 

Norris said he discovered his aptitude for graphic design after going to a Job Corps fair to learn computer repair about 15 or 20 years ago. ​“I’m not trying to turn anyone into a graphic designer, but this year we’re starting to sell digital prints, and we split it with the kids,” he said.

For him, that’s exciting. ​“It’s a way to show them that their work has value and that you can create value from your hands, you don’t have to go out and work some place you don’t like,” he said. ​“You put in the time, you develop the skills, you got options.”

Across the hallway, Elizabeth Cropper, phlebotomy instructor, was explaining the process of learning to draw blood from patients.

“You work with styrofoam and then go from there,” she told a woman. When it comes to live patients, ​“I’m going to watch all the way through, if I see you’re going the wrong way with a needle, I’m going to stop you.” 

The program, she said, involves patient preparation, specimen collection, and specimen packaging and transportation. 

“It’s 16 weeks, Monday through Friday, 8:30 to 2:30, 17 students, and I get to see students that didn’t believe they could do it and now they’re doing it,” she said. 

Bianca Roundtree was taking classes at Gateway in psychology when she heard about the phlebotomy program at ConnCAT. 

“I said ​‘let me try this’ and I made a career out of it, so now I’ve been doing it for three years, and I’m going to school for nursing,’” she said.

For Roundtree, who works at Bridgeport Hospital, the work goes beyond the fact that, as Cropper put it, ​“phlebotomists are always in demand.” 

“It’s about patient care,” she said. ​“You have to think if this was your family member, how would they want to be treated. It’s about building a rapport with your patients, people who are on certain medications and you see them every week, you ask ​‘how was your vacation,’ little things that bring joy to their day.”

Celines Vasquez, an LPN, learned about the program from her daughter.

“For me, it’s perfecting the technique,” she said. ​“I’m a perfectionist so I always try my best, but I’m not perfect. But when it comes to finding that vein and getting that vein, when the patient says I didn’t feel any pain, that’s a reward for me.” 

Down in the kitchen, Shayne Miller, a chef, was offering a guest a cup of green tea lemongrass ice cream.

“Let me know,” he said. ​“We spent all day making this. Different, right?”

Miller said he was part of an early cohort at the Culinary Arts Academy.

“I grew up in this neighborhood, I went through many opportunities, and I started here at 30 when my daughter was born and now I’m 37,” he said. ​“Now try that cookie. You’ll want more.”

After completing the six-month program and 80-hour externship, Miller said he’s worked for Yale, with Chef Miguel Trinidad, and as the chef and owner of Razzi’s Eats & Treats. He just returned from the University of Wisconsin at Madison where he worked as a task force chef. 

“As long as you got your head on right and you have your focus, the sky is the limit as to what you can reach,” he said.

Miller credited ​“Chef Jenna” Martin for his success.

“She’s the reason a lot of these kids get to where they’re going,” he said.

Martin, the lead chef instructor, said that she started at ConnCAT eight years ago. She trained at Johnson & Wales, then worked in restaurants and at Quinnipiac University, doing some catering on the side.

“I came here because my career was feeling kind of boring, and I wanted to do something fulfilling,” she said. ​“I never taught a day in my life and it was scary at first, but now I’ve gotten into my role as the lead chef instructor and I’ve kind of made it my own.” 

The six-month program includes training in baking and pastry making, American and international cuisine, and healthy cooking, with the goal of affording the trainees ​“an overview of the basic culinary skills to go out and work in anybody’s kitchen.”

The best part of what she does, she said, ​“is seeing students come in this building, and not really know where they’re going, and then leave with confidence and ready to conquer the world. I want to train them to not just have a job, but a career.”

Cropper, the phlebotomy instructor, who had come in the kitchen, was nodding.

“That’s the thing about this place,” she said. ​“It changes lives.”