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HBI Job Corps Graduates Honored at NAHB Board Meeting

The housing industry’s highest awards for achievement in training were presented to two Home Builders Institute (HBI) plumbing graduates during last month’s International Builders’ Show in Las Vegas.

In a ceremony at the NAHB Board of Directors meeting, 2003 NAHB President Kent Conine presented the “HBI Student of the Year” award to Lenord Fobb, Jr., owner of Fobb’s Affordable Plumbing Service in Garland, TX, a business he runs with his wife, Travona.

Former NAHB President Shirley Wiseman Lach presented the “Shirley Wiseman Lach Award for Exceptional Promise” to Starr Delgado, an HBI plumbing instructor at the Westover Job Corps Center in Worcester, MA.

Fobb enrolled in the HBI plumbing program at the North Texas Job Corps Center in McKinney, TX, in 1997. In only eight months, he was noted as the “Most Improved Plumber of the Month” and went on to earn the distinction of being the “Most Outstanding Plumber of the Month.”

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Today, at age 25, Fobb is a master plumber with his own business. “I take pride in the quality of service that we offer,” he said in an interview with the Dallas Morning News. “When we get more business, I will hire more people. I see this business as being one of the largest in Texas.”

The father of two sons, Fobb also serves as assistant minister at the Greater Stone Baptist Church.

Delgado enrolled in HBI’s plumbing program at the Grafton Job Corps Center in North Grafton, MA, leaving behind forever a life of gangs and dead-end jobs. During her 12 months in Job Corps, she was elected president of the student government, worked as a staff assistant and was featured as a “rising star” in the local newspaper.

At age 26, she has returned to HBI, working as a plumbing teacher at the Westover Job Corps Center, where she is able to share her craft with other young people also looking for a second chance.

The mother of a four-year-old daughter, she continues to attend evening classes toward earning a Journey level license.

Photo by Oscar and Associates
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