Life after high school can be daunting. Many young adults face the challenge of not knowing what they wish to pursue upon graduating or lack the skills necessary to enter the workforce.
Putnam/Northern Westchester BOCES aims to tackle this issue, by providing career and technical education courses for students in high school. Through these courses, students gain real work experience and a broad range of skills, while earning college credits.
This year, five students (three from BOCES and two from Peekskill High School) worked at Bantam Tools, located in Peekskill on North Water Street. Bantam Tools, led by CEO and co-founder Bre Pettis, is a company that designs and manufactures computer controlled machines. This is the first year Bantam Tools has partnered with BOCES for their New Visions Engineering program.
The three interns from BOCES are Enzo Monticelli, Michael Aiello, and Gabe Gilbert. While some internships can have individuals doing minimal tasks all day long, Pettis has emphasized that this is not the case for interns at Bantam Tools. “One of the things I’m really pleased with in this program is that we give them real tasks, real work to do – they’re not making coffee all day long.” said Pettis when interviewed by the Herald.
A typical work day for the BOCES interns starts at 9 a.m. All three interns have different tasks within the sales department. Aiello, who started his internship in March, is in charge of answering phone calls and redirecting customers with questions to the appropriate email that can answer them. In addition, Aiello gives quotes and handles follow ups with customers who are overdue on payments.
Monticelli is in charge of answering emails and or redirecting emails to departments that can answer them. Additionally, Monticelli quotes customers on orders and offers advice on accessories and bundles. When he first started in January, Monticelli worked heavily with Bantam’s CNC machines, learning the software and helping make products. Since then, he has branched out and learned different areas of the business, most recently, he has begun to practice fulfilling orders.
All three interns sporadically dabble in various departments, which Onell Guichardo, the sales manager at Bantam Tools, says is to make them versatile workers for their future careers. “If they’re needed in the production line, they’re there. If they’re needed in marketing, they’re there.”
“Through this program, they learn skills that maybe if the engineering role doesn’t work out, they can add these skills to their resume which might lead them into other job opportunities.” said Guichardo.
Both Monticelli and Aiello told the Herald that making the jump into a professional work space fresh out of high school was intimidating at first. “I previously worked at a restaurant for the last four years and that’s a different environment from an office work space. I have to be more professional, write emails, and change the way I speak,” said Monticelli. It took them a little while to get the hang of things but both young men say they are properly settled in now.
Monticelli and Aiello will be attending Manhattan College in the fall, majoring in mechanical engineering. “While in college, I plan to continue working here – I’ll learn skills in college and get hands-on experience here,” said Monticelli. Aiello will leave Bantam this summer to focus on school but hopes to return next year.
When asked why they decided to join Bantam’s internship program, Aiello responded “I wanted to understand how the machines work. I also came to understand the business side – the sales and marketing component – because I’d like to start a business later in my future.”
Monticelli says that he enjoys the team environment at Bantam Tools the most. “They let me come in dressed how I like and let me be my own person. I have a unique personality and I think Bre lets that flourish here.”
Both Monticelli and Aiello highly recommend this program to any BOCES student that is interested. “If you want to understand engineering, business, customer service and get hands-on experience in the real world, I would recommend this program for you,” said Aiello.
Bre Pettis and Bantam Tools plan on bringing more interns next year and continuing their partnership with BOCES. In an email to the Herald, Melissa Crea, a work-based learning coordinator at BOCES, said “Bantam Tools has provided a wonderful hands-on learning experience for our New Visions Engineering students, and we are excited about working with them in the future.”
Two PHS students work with drawing and handwriting machines
John Tenecesca and Jonathan Chocho are both students from Peekskill High School who have worked at Bantam Tools this summer. Earlier this year, Bre Pettis reached out to Carlo Vidrini, the school’s Robotics teacher, in search of students who would want to work at Bantam for the summer. Tenecesca and Chocho were chosen by Vidrini from a group of interested students.
Duties given to the students include refurbishing old drawing and handwriting machines and making large amounts of postcards with the machines and mailing them out. The machines used by the students mimic human writing.
Tenecesca and Chocho have worked on various projects with the machines including direct mail marketing (making postcards informing former customers that Bantam Tools now sells drawing and handwriting machines) and making postcards for a New Hampshire politician.
“This is very different from Robotics,” said Tenecesca when interviewed by the Herald. He recalled finding it difficult to get the hang of the machines, often making products that were unusable.
“At first, it was pretty hard. Within two weeks, we started to pick up the speed slowly and slowly,” said Chocho. The machine they learned how to use, above, shows the writing process. This is Tenecesca and Chocho’s first job.
“The skills that they are learning using computer controlled machines, apply to CNC machines and all sorts of industries. If you know how to operate one of these, the jump to another computer controlled machine in another industry is not that big of a jump,” said Pettis.
“Their ability to manage not just one machine but a fleet of machines is just an awesome skill for them to be learning that I hope will carry on through their careers,” he added. Chocho and Tenecesca have also learned how to navigate Microsoft Excel through working with these machines.
At the end of summer, Tenecesca will go off to college and Chocho will enter his senior year at Peekskill High School. Pettis would like to bring aboard more students from Peekskill High School next summer
