Hello, not much at all has changed from my last update. I really am now seeing what being an adult means - I’ll tell you that. Now that I’m living with my girlfriend in Connecticut because MV just sadly wasn’t in my budget to live there, I’m learning what new responsibilities there are to being an adult, I’m now working mostly around 48 hours roughly a week, and every hour of those 48 I’m learning something new. Cars are only going to get more complex. My brain is in over drive every day, from finding new ways to diagnose vehicles faster so the shop has more cash flow to finding little in shop tips and tricks to use to repair it just that much faster so I can move onto something else and not be behind in jobs. But there is always that one 30 minute job that for some reason wants to fight and turns into a 4 hour job, but how do you charge for that, it’s not the customers fault so that’s why you have to recognize a problem that might be so it’s not a problem you end up running into. The education I got from NEIT definitely have me a boost to the finish line but I’m not kidding when I say that the finish line keeps getting further and further away as new cars are produced I’m never not learning. I have no doubt in my mind if I didn’t get help from the workforce scholarship I would be so far behind in my education I would be insanely overwhelmed with trying to keep up. So I will be forever grateful for the opportunities this scholarship program provided me.
Garrett Broadley - New England Institute of Technology
Hello, 2022 has been a very up and down roller coaster. The beginning of the year was as smooth and can be. I was working, having fun and doing things a 21 year old should be doing. I was doing things that were making me turn into a independent adult more and more. Until I had to move. The Island was sadly out of my budget. I simply could not afford to live there any more. I had to find something. With my girlfriend who is from Connecticut, we decided to move in together to have our own place and start becoming fully independent - “leaving the nest”, as some say. I still continue to use my education I got from NEIT while I work at another independent shop. The knowledge I got from Will Debettencourt shot me to the top at this new shop, although I have plenty to learn and still am learning every day. I am working six days a week, Monday through Saturday, mostly trying to build a solid foundation for my future. The Island will forever be my home. One day hopefully it becomes affordable for true Islanders like me so I can go back and make my kids the 9th generation of Islanders in my family. Thank you for all that you have done. None of this would be possible if it wasn’t for your support.
Garrett Broadley - New England Institute of Technology
I've been done with school for a full year now and have been working full-time for around a year and a half, while finishing up the last few general education classes I needed to take. Working full time is the best. I'm glad I can use the knowledge that I learned at school in the real world. I'm doing everything I dreamed of, the amount of fun I'm having fixing things that are broken and making them work again is honestly everything I signed up for. I love to see how much I have grown from being a freshman in Ken Ward's automotive class in high school to now, a 20 year old with my Associate's degree in advanced automotive technology. But the big thing is that I'm still just breaking the surface into this career. My co-worker and boss at work are all mentors to me, they are still teaching me the tricks of the trade and ways to help with my efficiency to help me make sure I am producing my best work in a timely manner. I am insanely grateful for the help this scholarship got me. I'm happy I finished school when I did because covid would have made school such a bad environment, meaning I wouldn't be able to learn the way that best suits me. I have friends in school saying that it's practically back to virtual learning. But being at work where I can continue my education while making money is so much better, but I wouldn't be able to be at the same position if I didn't have any of my schooling. Again, I appreciate what the Workforce Development Scholarship has done for me.
Garrett Broadley - New England Institute of Technology
To say the beginning of my 2020 year of school was a crazy ride would definitely be an understatement. With the pandemic happening right at the end of my third quarter it held me back from going back and swiftly completing my fourth quarter on time. My fourth quarter started at the beginning of summertime, and it was strictly online. The quarter I did fully online was my electrical course so not being hands-on and not being able to actually hold the tools in my hands didn’t make it easy. It caused a massive learning curve, but it was one that I needed to overcome. Then New England Institute of Technology made it possible for my lab classes to be in person, but my lectures were online, which was great at the time. I would have done anything to get back to start working with my hands again. But there was a catch - everyone needed to stay distanced, which made it hard to watch when my instructor would demonstrate how to do a task that was discussed in our online zoom lecture. The dorms were still closed so I had to commute from Martha’s Vineyard to East Greenwich which is in Rhode Island every Monday and would stay in Rhode Island in a hotel until Thursday when my lab classes ended. Now that the dorms have opened back up it has been much easier and less stressful because I don’t have to worry if the boats will be canceled or have to deal with the drive twice a week. Because the school closed the dorms for winter break when I go back to school on January 11th, I will need to quarantine for two weeks because Massachusetts is a hot spot, and because of that I will sadly have fully online classes for those two weeks again but it is a precaution that is needed to be done. I know that this has been a curved road to the completion of my classes at New England Institute of Technology but I am quite literally in the home stretch before I graduate and get into the field and start working and expanding my knowledge. And I couldn’t be more grateful for the scholarship that I received that has truly helped me overcome the long drives and the back and forth on the boat every week.