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HBI Announces Job Corps Award Winners
The winner of the second annual NAHB President’s Award is Kareem Dorsett, 25, an electrical apprentice with Alligood Electric Company in Orange Park, Fla. The award is presented to a Home Builders Institute (HBI) Job Corps graduate who has displayed the ability to overcome adversity on the way to achieving success in the home building industry.
Dorsett graduated from HBI’s electrical program at the Jacksonville Job Corps Center and he completed his work-based learning at Alligood Electric. He was hired after graduation in January 2002 as an electrical helper and has been with the company ever since.
He also entered the Northeast Florida Builders Association's four-year registered electrical apprenticeship program, and has maintained a B+ average. Dorsett will graduate this May, but he plans on continuing his work and study; his goal is to become a Master Electrician.
Since his graduation from Job Corps, Dorsett has mentored Job Corps students, speaking to them often about the rigors of the working world and even finding them jobs at Alligood.
Throughout his training in Job Corps, he was a positive role model to other students and his leadership qualities make him an outstanding choice for the NAHB President’s Award.
“I am honored that I was chosen for the award and glad to be in a position where I can help other young people succeed,” Dorsett said.
The award will be presented on Thursday, Jan. 12 at about 1:00 p.m. during the NAHB Board of Director’s meeting in the Orange County Convention Center’s Valencia Ballroom.
A Promising Career in the Home Building Industry
Kisna Tatum, 25, is the 2006 recipient of the Shirley Wiseman Lach Award for Exceptional Promise. A native of the Virgin Islands, Tatum came to Florida to apply her talents to making a good life for herself and her family.
An interest in many different trades led to her enrollment in HBI’s Facilities Maintenance class at the Homestead Job Corps Center, a trade that combines basic skills in carpentry, electrical, plumbing, landscaping and painting.
Shortly after enrolling in Job Corps, she broke her leg skating and some suggested that she should return to the Virgin Islands to nurse her injury. However, Tatum was not inclined to abandon her goals and return home. She was back in class the following week with crutches and was more than ready to work.
Tatum was warned by instructor Richard Pickover that plumbing required considerable upper body strength, but she insisted that she was up to the challenge. Within three months, she became shop foreman, consistently the first to arrive for class and the last to leave.
Pickover gained much respect for Tatum’s resolve, and throughout her tenure at Homestead he served as a mentor. After Tatum’s graduation in February 2004, Pickover continued to assist with her transition into the working world.
Tatum graduated with a wealth of experience, completing more than 200 hours of community service, and she has been a great fit at Seaway Plumbing in Key Largo, where she works as a plumbing apprentice. Her success there has enabled her to save enough money to bring her young daughter Elina to Florida, rent an apartment and buy a car.
The Shirley Wiseman Lach Award for Exceptional Promise, named after the former NAHB president and HBI trustee, is presented every year to a young graduate from HBI’s Job Corps program who has demonstrated remarkable promise and commitment to the housing industry.
Wiseman will present the award to Tatum on Thursday, Jan. 12 at 11:00 a.m. at HBI’s Skills Exhibit booth (W5389).
For more information on the awards or HBI’s Job Corps programs, e-mail Maria McIntyre at HBI, or call her at 800-795-7955 x8912.
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