Job Training Pays Off for Haverhill Students at Bethany

Gateway Academy students, from left, Brianna Jones, Tayjah Martin and Brian McGowan hold certificates declaring their successful completion of a career training program at Bethany Community Services. Back row, from left, are Katherine Moriarity, Gateway Academy job coach; Victoria Luiggi and Laura Maynard, Bethany Communities; Dianne Connolly, Haverhill Public Schools director of Title I and community outreach; Jaydon Pina and Lawrence Linell. Gateway Academy students with their certificates; Jeanette Martinez, Bethany; Allison Heartquist, member, Bethany board of directors; and Kristen Carbone, Bethany. (Courtesy photograph.)

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Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story inadvertently omitted several names, WHAV regrets the error.

Five Haverhill students who completed career training celebrated their accomplishment during a celebration at Bethany Community Services, which partnered with the city to provide the work experience.

Brianna Jones, Lawrence Linell, Tayjah Martin, Brian McGowan and Jaydon Pina who attend Haverhill’s Gateway Academy alternative high school at the former St. James School on Primrose Street, earned the praise of president and CEO Jered Stewart during a ceremony at Bethany’s Phoenix Row location.

“We were very pleased with this new partnership with the Gateway Academy and to be a part of providing these students an opportunity to gain some valuable real-world experience. These students stepped up and took on a challenge to go through an interview process, receive on the job training, and work in a field that provided them with relevant experience. I’m proud of our Bethany team and proud of these students for completing this program.”

Known as BYCARE, which stands for Bethany Youth Career Advancement and Readiness for Employment, the program is designed to give training, work experience and the chance for permanent employment. Bethany provided the location, while the city paid for the program’s implementation with a Haverhill Youth Activity and Mental Health grant.

This year’s participants worked in Bethany’s dining services and wellness departments.

In all, 17 students participated in two sessions during the just-ended school year. All participants were required to interview for their jobs, meet training requirements including CPR and First Aid, and reach individual performance measures. Students from both sessions received permanent part-time job offers.

For nearly 60 years, Bethany Community Services, a Haverhill nonprofit agency, has been providing quality, affordable housing and supportive services to low and moderate-income seniors including meals, wellness and mental healthcare, activities, personal assistance, and transportation, enabling those who are aging-in-place to remain independent and within the Bethany communities as long as possible.

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