Success — Lives Transformed

CET Provides Support to Troubled Youth

When I first spoke to Thomas about sharing his life story, he explained that "If I can help someone by sharing my life story — if they can look at my life and the challenges I experienced — and see that I changed my life... maybe they will have the motivation to change their life. I'm not a failure — I worked hard to get to this successful point in my life... others can too!"

Thomas Welvaert was born in Wister, MA into a large family. His mother was a Registered Nurse and his troubled father, a truck driver. When his father was sent to prison, Thomas' family moved to Texas, to be with his mother's new boyfriend. This move was traumatic for Thomas, as he had been physically and sexually abused by his father, and was reluctant to trust men, especially one who was attempting to get close to him and his mother; he feared for his mother's safety, as he had seen her suffer at the hand of a man, so early on in his life.

While in junior high school, although a promising athletic career in basketball, track, soccer, football and baseball was beginning, Thomas was arrested and "locked-up" as he described it, for 5 years in a high security facility for youths. "This encounter was a real learning experience, and made me want to turn my life around," shared Thomas. When he was released — he was 19 years old — unemployed, with only a GED (earned while incarcerated)... he had to begin his life again.

After living with his mother and stepfather for a couple months, he fell in love with and married Esther. They moved to El Paso where Thomas worked in construction until November of 2002, when he was laid-off. Without bi-lingual skills, finding new work was difficult, so Thomas turned to the Texas Youth Commission for assistance: CET was recommended for job training.

David Nava, Youth Program Coordinator for CET in Socorro, Texas, was one of the people Thomas came to know and rely on during this career transition. In Jan 2003 Thomas enrolled in the Truck Driver program, attended for 5 months, and successfully earned his Certification and Commercial Drivers License (CDL) . The CET training helped him study for his written test and provided valuable experience driving an 18-wheel truck. "The training was in-depth and thorough, and the CET staff worked hard to keep me motivated."

With his new license, Thomas was immediately placed into employment upon graduation, and is currently employed by Arrow Trucking as an OTR (Over The Road) Truck Driver — and is paid 32 cents per mile — averaging $40 - $50K per annum. He is away from home from 3 to 6 weeks at a time, then off for 3 days — time he cherishes and spends with his wife and 2 children. His driving takes him across the entire United States, and he said, "I love to travel, but it is hard to be away from my family." The favorite part of his job is the sense of power over his time — he controls his daily work — the start time, stops and route, as long as he delivers his load on time.

When I asked Thomas about his challenges, he revealed that the most difficult challenge was to stay motivated for his CET training without worrying about his family's welfare — they were struggling financially. Luckily, CET assisted him in securing funds from the Upper Rio Grande Workforce Development Board, (link to www.urgwdb.org) as he was eligible to participate in their Youth Services Program that paid his CET tuition. How did he stay motivated? "The CET staff kept me going, by talking to me — they made me want to attend and learn."

One special note Thomas wanted to communicate about David Nava from CET, was his willingness to help — "he did everything he could... to help me with my challenges. For example — my wife was working a minimum wage job, and had to take our only car everyday. I was having difficulty attending training because I could not find affordable childcare, nor did I have a ride to the CET facility, almost 25 miles away. David facilitated state funded day care — whereby my kids got picked up, and they also dropped me off at the CET training Center."

Without CET — Where would he be? "Honestly, without training and my license, I would be on the street without a job or I would be working for minimum wage and struggling financially." But he did work hard to attend the CET training and now has dreams for his future... His current job allows for his wife to attend school in Office Management and Business. When she finishes, he'll go back to "local driving", so he can build a house and be closer to his family — maybe even have another child. "My stepfather and I are very close now, and he is very supportive of my new career... CET made these dreams a possibility. I am grateful."

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