Deisy Rodriguez earned her high school diploma and electrical certification at the Clearfield Job Corps Center in Utah. After graduation, she worked for a power company and later Fed-Ex for two years. Then, her former center called about a job opening. Mike Byrd, manager of facility maintenance at the Clearfield Job Corps Center, says, “Our technician called her and said Deisy, ‘you should put in [for the job]. We have an opening.’ She was in a position in life where she said, ‘You know, I think I’ll do that.’”

She says her Job Corps experience as a student was touch and go in the beginning.

“I remember one of the counselors saying, “Give it a chance. Give this place a chance! So, I was like, ‘OK.’ Then I was like, ‘no.’ I literally had tears draining from my eyes. I kept saying I don’t want to stay here. My Dads like, ‘Now, if you don’t want to stay, I will come back for you that same day.’ So, I was like, ‘OK dad.’ And the counselor just kept saying give it a chance. And finally, I was like, ‘OK.’ And a chance turned into a week, and then a month, and then I was here for a year. So, all I have to say to the students is to give it a chance—that’s all. Because in the end, it’s worth it. It was worth it for me, and I know it’s going to be worth it for everybody else.”