Meet Tiffanie Nuccio, a student at the Clearfield Job Corps Center in Utah.

“I have a great deal of passion for art.”

A passion, which she says came from her grandfather.

“Like I always watched him draw and I was always interested in what he was making,” she says.

Tiffanie uses spray paint to create works of art. A little blue here, a little red there, and Tiffanie’s spray paint art begins to come to life.

But, Tiffanie’s talents and abilities don’t stop there. Tiffanie is a welding student at the Clearfield Job Corps Center. She says while it’s not easy being a female in a male-dominated trade, she’s up to the task.

Out of a class of 50 welding students at the Clearfield center, typically only a handful are female. But instructor Greg Price says while Tiffanie may not look the part, she plays it very well.

“She’s excited to take every little bit of knowledge that we could give her and just run with it, and she’s done that,” says Price.

Tiffanie appreciates all the help she’s received from her instructors at the Clearfield center, especially Mr. Price.

“He won’t like go around and be like oh that’s ok. You know. He’ll be like no you need to do it over and over and over and over again.”

When she first arrived at the Clearfield Job Corps Center Tiffany dipped her hand into plumbing and electrical but no light bulb ever went off. Then a spark in welding that developed into a new career path.

Tiffanie says, “I felt comfortable and at peace. I felt like myself and it was nice.”

Now combine welding with her love for art and what do you get? You get a cool place to work. Tiffanie landed an internship at a business in north Salt Lake City called Forked Up Art. It was heaven-sent for Tiffany.

Landon Cutler is Tiffany’s supervisor. He says she’s been an outstanding intern.

“She’s very easy to work with and very outgoing.”

Landon says his company has had a tremendous partnership with Job Corps because of the quality of students like Tiffanie.

“I’ve been going through the hiring process for the past two months. I’ve gone through a lot of different interviews. We have been disappointed to say the least, and Tiffanie came in and knocked it out of the park.”

And not only are the Job Corps students who have worked for him skilled, they’re creative too.

Landon adds, “I absolutely love it. We actually have a lot of pieces of art that have been created by our Job Corps employees.”

For Tiffanie, Job Corps was a major pivot point in her life.

“I wasn’t really going anywhere when I was home. The education here at Job Corps is amazing,” she says.

Tiffany will return to her home state of California where she’ll work in the welding business and eventually combine her love for art with her newfound passion for welding.

“I just feel like this is who I am and this is how I want to live my life.”

We are very excited to announce that the Telly Awards has named MTC as a Bronze winner in the 38th Annual People’s Choice Telly Awards “From Art To Welding: A New Career And Future For This Clearfield Job Corps Student”