With NWTC’s support, former basketball player pivots to new career as electrician

Story originally published May, 2023 via The Buffalo News
By Kristy Holfoth
Photo by Taylor Griffith Amankwaah, NWTC

When Jonisha Scott received a quote to rewire her home’s outdated electrical last year, she got a dose of sticker shock along with it.

“He told me it was going to be $20K, and I thought, ‘What? That’s a down payment on a new house!’” she says. “I decided that instead of putting that money into the electric, I was going to put it into my education, so I can do the work myself as well as help out people in my community who need electrical work.”

An internet search and a few on-site tours later, Scott enrolled at Northland Workforce Training Center (NWTC), an extension campus for SUNY Erie (ECC) and Alfred State, in January 2022. She is pursuing an associate degree through the center’s Electrical Construction and Maintenance Electrician program, which is offered through Alfred State at NWTC.

NWTC, a workforce development and trade school located in East Buffalo, provides training for jobs in the advanced manufacturing and energy industries. It offers programs like welding, mechatronics and mechanical engineering in addition to electrical construction and is currently enrolling for the Fall 2023 semester.

Scott graduated from D’Youville University in 2010 with a bachelor’s degree in Exercise and Sports Studies following a four-year college basketball career. She continued working in sports as she eventually married and started a family. When she decided to pivot her career and become an electrician, Scott knew she would need support to succeed.

“I’ve got a daughter I have to attend to in addition to classes here, and I work to keep my household running,” she says. “She’s my first priority, so I just don’t have the extra income to buy what I need for my classes.”

Luckily, NWTC recognizes the importance of student support. Scott, who had used up her federal Pell Grant and NYS Tuition Assistance Program eligibility pursuing her bachelor’s degree, applied for and received a grant from NWTC to help cover some of her costs. She has also utilized the center’s lending library, checking out tools, equipment and textbooks needed for her program – all for free.

Joyce Brown, NWTC’s director of Student Success Services, says the lending library in particular has been crucial to making an education there attainable for many students with a lower income.

“That’s been hugely successful with helping our students. A lot of times, they can pay for tuition, but they can’t afford the supplies,” Brown explains. “With our classes being hands-on, you need the supplies; there’s no way around them.”

Brown emphasized that the support NWTC offers is individualized and comprehensive – it includes everything from mental health, financial aid and career counseling to housing, childcare and transportation assistance, plus job readiness training. Upon enrollment, each student is assigned to a dedicated career coach who connects them to whatever resources they need through graduation and for three years after.

“Whether the student wants to talk about something related to school or their personal life, we’re here to support them with whatever issues or barriers they may have,” Brown says. “We know that whatever happens outside of school affects them here, so we help in every way we can. We build relationships with these students.”

Scott agrees.

“It’s more like a family,” she says. “When you come here, you’re not just a number.”