Alum brings real-life lessons back to class

Angelo Velez just can”™t seem to stay away from Henry Abbott Technical High School. He graduated from the Danbury school some 25 years ago, then returned in 1993 as an instructor in the computer-aided design (CAD) and drafting department, which he heads.

But he can”™t quite stay away from private enterprise, either, which he forsook in 1993 to return to Henry Abbott. This past July he spent 20 days at the Goodrich Electro Optical Systems”™ machine shop and CAD operations in Danbury, learning how the two interact in the working world. He”™ll bring that knowledge back to Henry Abbott this fall, creating real-life lessons for his CAD students and students in the machine shop.

“My CAD people don”™t ever touch the machines, and the machinists don”™t ever get the chance to develop 3-D models that my CAD people make” in their computers, Velez said. “By being at Goodrich, I got a complete set of skills for the kids so they can enter the high-end work force or manufacturing field.”

Velez”™ four-week stint at Goodrich was part of a Connecticut Business & Industry Association (CBIA) and National Science Foundation program that funds externships at Connecticut manufacturing companies for technical high school and community college professors. “We”™ve been doing this for more than seven years,” said Mary deManbey, program manager at CBIA”™s Education Foundation in Hartford. This summer eight high school, technical high school and college teachers spent much of July externing at eight manufacturing companies scattered around the state, including Velez at Goodrich ”“ the only Fairfield County teacher and company in this summer”™s program this year.

“The externship experience is phenomenal,” deManbey said. “Not only do teachers go on site and participate in project work, but they introduce work-based learning to their students in the fall.” And some of the teachers, she said, “have never worked in businessÂ because they”™ve been in academia and they”™re not familiar with the working environment. So they”™re updating their skills and experiencing an environment they may never have experienced.”

More dad time

That wasn”™t Velez”™ experience. He spent much of his professional life after college ”“ he attended Waterbury Technical Community College, Western Connecticut State University and Central Connecticut State University ”“ in manufacturing. For five years until 1993 he was a designer for a data switch company in Wilton that moved its operations to Shelton, and before that worked his way up a Danbury printed circuit board company from a plotter to manager of digital graphics to quality control.

The hour-long commute from Danbury to Shelton ”“ and another hour commute back home at the end of the day ”“ proved too much a strain on Velez”™ family life. “I had a young daughter born in 1990, and commuting two hours a day didn”™t afford me a lot of time with her,” he said. Going back to Henry Abbott as a teacher gave him that time. “I”™d be there on snow days and summer vacations,” as well as in the morning and evening. And he”™d be able to be a better dad to his older daughters as well. (His family continues to grow. “We”™re a family of four now, soon to be five,” Velez said. “We have a son due at the end of November.”)

Carving out more time to be a husband and father was one reason for the switch. The other, he said, was that “I graduated from Henry Abbott”™s drafting department, and I saw this as a chance to go back and help other kids start their lives, to get a chance like I got. The highlight of my school year now is when I send seniors off to jobs or college, and they”™re successful in doing that.”

Velez applied for the program after reading an e-mail from CBIA asking technical high school instructors in the CAD trades if they wanted to do an externship, he said. “I didn”™t grow up in a machine shop, and thought I could use the experience.”

And Velez already knew about Goodrich, which had hired a Henry Abbott student as part of the school”™s work-study program.

Marketable students

“We started our relationship with HATS last summer,” said Colleen O”™Connor, manager of human resources at Goodrich, using the local nickname for the technical school. “We hired one of the kids in their machine program to come work in a work-study program in our machine shop,” she said. “We were so impressed with him we decided to do more, that we need to hire these very smart kids just out of school to start building up our bench strength.”

Goodrich managers arranged to speak to incoming Henry Abbott freshmen “to give an overview of career opportunities at Goodrich,” said David Sharkis, training and talent management specialist at the facility. “As we got more involved, we started talking to shop, math and science curriculum folks as well, and they went out for additional state funds to make their curriculum more robust and make their students more marketable,” he said.

“When we got involved with them, we ran into Angelo,” Sharkis said. “He really impressed us. He”™s the type of instructor every parent wishes his child will run into. He”™s very motivated and wants to stay current, wants to make sure he teaches his students good marketable skills.”

Velez “observed the process and interaction between our manufacturing group and our mechanical design group, how we generate drawings and make sure the parts are manufacturable,” Sharkis said. “He didn”™t have a lot of insight into the manufacturing process, so by spending time in the machine shop, he learned the needs of the machinist, what the machinist is looking for in the drawing. He literally shadowed both design and machinist personnel and good a very good appreciation for that work relationship.”

“From our perspective, he”™s going back to make the curriculum better,” O”™Connor said. And that means “we”™re going to get better-educated students because of an improved curriculum as a result of what Angelo has gained here.”

Velez got something more out of the externship ”“ a look into the future of manufacturing in Connecticut. “The CBIA says that 25 percent of the manufacturing work force is going to retire in the next few years,” Velez said. Goodrich has eight machinists, he said, naming each one in the way only a teacher who knows the name of each of his students can. “Probably four out of the eight are going to retire in the next few years, and that”™s why CBIA created this opportunity for the externships. They”™re hoping technical high schools will be a feeder system into the work force.”