ConnCAT Sends Chefs, Phlebotomists Into Workforce

Ten new certified phlebotomists and ten chefs are plunging into the workforce after graduating Saturday as the Cohort VIfrom the Connecticut Center for Arts and Technology (ConnCAT).

Wearing caps, gowns, and chefs hats, the graduates who attended were cheered on by family and friends at a socially distant ceremony held in ConnCAT’s Winchester Avenue parking lot.

Through its Culinary Arts Academy and Phlebotomy Technician program, ConnCAT provides unemployed or under-employed adults with job-training for work opportunities in town. Many of Saturday’s graduates have already found work since joining the program, and enthusiastically returned to ConnCAT for the ceremony. 

Administrative Services Manager Stephanie Mallard said ConnCAT started planning the graduation ceremony in July. Mallard, who coordinated the graduation, put in place social distancing measures such as allowing families to observe from their cars in the back or sit in chairs stationed more than six feet apart.

ConnCAT usually holds two graduations a year, in the winter and in the spring. Saturday’s graduation was ConnCAT’s first outdoor commencement ceremony, since they typically hold graduation in the arts studio.

“These folks have been waiting to graduate due to the pandemic, and so we really wanted to honor and celebrate their achievement,” said ConnCAT CEO Erik Clemons.

“It’s a very powerful thing to be able to finish and complete something and show the community that all things are possible.”

In her welcoming speech, ConnCAT Chief Operating Officer Genevive Walker highlighted the graduates’ determination. ​“Even in this day when we have this global pandemic, we have this national civil unrest, none of these things could stop us from celebrating you on this day,” Walker said.

Walker mentioned the hard work Culinary Arts Academy students put in cooking and serving food at ConnCAT’s Orchid Cafe through the pandemic. In five weeks this spring, the Orchid Cafe and Culinary program made $15,000.

“If you have the heart and mind to protest, if you have the heart and mind to survive, I just want to offer to you sitting in these immediate seats that your success is a protest. So I just want to encourage you to continue to protest. The world needs you. They need your demonstration of mutual respect, of commitment, of integrity, of self-accountability. We need right now your compassion and empathy, and we look to your excellence,” she added.

Culinary arts instructor Jenna Martin said that some mornings her students came knocking on the kitchen door as early as 5:30 to learn something new and practice their skills. ​“At this point, I had no choice but to be addicted to coffee and buckeyes candies to keep up with them!” she said jokingly.

“With dedication came sacrifice and this group proved that they were willing to sacrifice for what they wanted.”

Autumn Smith, who graduated from the phlebotomy technician program, said the number-one thing she learned at ConnCAT was professionalism. ​“I liked the family environment. Everyone wanted to talk to each other, help each other. And the teachers were very supportive.”

Bianca Roundtree had been waiting to graduate from the Phlebotomy Technician program since January, when she completed an externship. ​“I’m excited. I never thought this would have happened!”

Roundtree is employed at ConnCAT and is studying to take her National Phlebotomy Association (NPA) certification exam in October, with plans to be a traveling phlebotomist.

At ConnCAT, Roundtree said, she learned a lot about compassion and community involvement. ​“It’s more important to make an impact in your community, that’s the biggest thing I’ve learned and that I see here. You want to get something for yourself, but you want to also give something.”