Aisha Olivier was hard at work fixing a toilet in a women’s bathroom in the Hogan Campus Center when she heard the door slowly creak open. “Hello, is someone in there?” the voice asked hesitantly, spotting Olivier’s heavy work boots under the stall door and assuming a male plumber was on the job.
“Yeah, but I'm a girl!” Olivier called out. “It's OK, come on in!” Olivier, a senior in the plumbing program at Worcester Technical High School, is part of a co-op partnership that connects students from local vocational-technical high schools with Holy Cross for work-based learning in their trades.
Olivier is also a trailblazer — she is the first woman to work in the plumbing division of facilities in the history of the College.
“I was blown away by Aisha during her interview,” said Stephen Polenski, plumbing supervisor at Holy Cross. “I’ve been a supervisor a long time. And everything she said — I could tell right away she was the right person for the job.”
Polenski and his plumbing team wanted to make sure the Worcester Tech student felt welcomed, so they gave Olivier the go-ahead to paint her desk in facilities any color she wanted. Olivier chose light pink. “It’s gorgeous,” she said with a smile. “I mixed the paint myself!”
Kimberly McCullen, associate director of workforce development at Holy Cross, said the students participating in the program, which launched in fall 2023, are “thriving” — a win for the College and the young tradespeople.
“This co-op program is about finding new employment pipelines and connecting with the community in mutually beneficial ways,” McCullen said. “It’s bringing diverse backgrounds and talents that we might otherwise not have had onto campus, and we get to showcase the talent that's right here in our greater Worcester community.”
THE CHALLENGE
“One of the major challenges facing employers everywhere is filling skilled-labor trades positions,” McCullen said. “CBS News estimates that for every five skilled-trade workers who retire, only one is entering the workforce, creating an enormous labor gap.”
Thanks to the new initiative, the College hired a group of 10 students from Worcester Tech and Blackstone Valley Regional Vocational Technical High School into positions in the HVAC, electrical, plumbing and painting departments at Holy Cross. In addition, culinary arts students from Worcester’s South High Community School continue to work in dining services at the College through an existing partnership that continues to thrive.
“There's a real push, not only from vocational schools, but also from the state, to make worksites more diverse, including incorporating more women,” said Heather Courtney, co-op employment and education coordinator at Worcester Tech. “That's a shift in the trade industry and something many workers are not used to — so to see Holy Cross embrace our students and be so kind, especially to my girls, has been fabulous.
“And I’m so impressed with how my high school girls are showing the college women, ‘Look at what else we can do. We don't all have to be on the college track.’ That's incredibly powerful,” she continued. “It’s good for the college students to see our students’ skill sets. Otherwise, it’s easy to take for granted.”
THE NUTS AND BOLTS
In fall 2023, the College interviewed more than 30 juniors and seniors at the participating high schools. “While we only had 10 slots available, we gave all interviewees feedback on their resumes and how they interviewed,” McCullen said. “We heard right away from the high school students that Holy Cross has an appeal for many reasons.”
For one, the College presents a great local co-op option for students, McCullen noted: “Holy Cross offers one consistent location that the students are coming to every day, as opposed to students driving across the state to different assignments.”
“If I didn't get this job at Holy Cross, I would have been driving to South Boston every day,” Olivier noted.
Plus, in this one location, students have the opportunity to work in residential and commercial, new and old settings. “Holy Cross has both beautiful new buildings and very old, historic buildings, which offers a learning advantage,” McCullen noted. “One day students are working on the traditional homes up on City View Street, and the next they are working in Kimball Dining Hall fixing an industrial kitchen.” On campus, students can see the evolution of systems, such as simple steam heat to heat pumps and cutting-edge technology.
Each co-op student is paired with a supervisor and another team member to shadow and work alongside. During the academic year, the students alternate 40 hours at Holy Cross with one week of academics at their respective high schools. Importantly, McCullen noted, the internships not only fulfill crucial trade requirements for students, but are also paid positions: “These students are doing a significant amount of work. We always want there to be a benefit to both sides.
“The level of professionalism among these students has been unmatched,” she continued. “The technical training and hands-on experience the students come in with from their shop speaks to the high standard requirements the vocational-technical schools have in place. It has been great to see students eager and excited to fill these gaps, and to have supervisors trust them as counterparts.”
And because the two participating vocational-technical schools are on alternating schedules, supervisors have continuous support — when one student leaves for a week of academics, another heads back to work at Holy Cross, McCullen explained.
The students loved their experience so much, most opted to work seven weeks over the summer at Holy Cross. This was great news for the College, said Allen Morais, director of facilities operations.
“Summer is the busiest time of year for facilities, and we’re always looking for extra sets of hands,” he said. “We go through all the dorms while the students are gone, and we just added three more dorms. Painters go into each room to touch up any damage, HVAC changes filters and makes sure all systems turn on and shut off as they're supposed to, and so on.”
“The biggest thing is that the students have shared that they felt welcomed,” McCullen said. “They have seamlessly fit into their roles and together as a team.” She noted that Angelica Rivera, a vocational high school graduate who was hired at Holy Cross in September 2023 for a full-time position, has been an excellent mentor to the current co-op students.
“I can see coming here for the first time being a little intimidating — it’s such a big campus, and the students are meeting a whole crew of people. But we have a good group, and they all wanted to welcome them,” Morais said. “We have been so impressed with the skills of these students.”
Students like Olivier.
MEET AISHA OLIVIER
A simple scheduling error led to Olivier discovering her trade.
“When I initially started vocational school, I was convinced I wanted to choose the business technology or health shop,” said Olivier, who attended a different vocational school before moving to Worcester and enrolling at Worcester Tech. “During freshman year, my counselor noticed an empty slot in my exploratory and slid me into plumbing. The first day I walked into that shop, I fell in love with it.”
Olivier loves her field now, but it took some convincing to get her family on board. “I was initially scared to pursue the trades because I was the first tradesperson in my immediate family,” said Olivier, the middle of six children. “My family was more business- and healthcare-oriented; my mom is a nurse and my dad works in finance.”
Once she outlined the benefits to her parents, such as the pay scale and demand, they were convinced. Plus, Olivier felt she could make a difference as a woman in the field. “I remembered a time when my mom was home alone and we had a male plumber come to the house; he made her super uncomfortable,” Olivier said. She saw a need for a more diverse workforce.
“Being a girl in this field, I've had to push through a lot,” Olivier said. “On other job sites, I’ve had tradespeople stand in front of me while explaining the situation to my male co-workers, or I’ve had people think I was there to clean up after the job is done.”
The workplace at Holy Cross has been a completely different experience, Olivier said.
“Being the only girl in the plumbing department at Holy Cross, I have never felt uncomfortable — not once,” she said. “That was thanks to how well I was welcomed. We all just synced. And I'm already seeing how I make an impact at Holy Cross, especially because I can go into women’s spaces, like the locker rooms. It helps us get work done faster and also doesn't inconvenience the women if they are rushing to practice or a class and need the locker room.”
This access has certainly been beneficial, but beyond that, Olivier is simply talented at what she does, said her supervisor Polenski and Lee Cappos, a plumber at Holy Cross, who has been working closely alongside her.
‘THE PLUMBER PROTECTS THE HEALTH OF THE NATION’ — AND HOLY CROSS
“Aisha knows what she's doing,” Cappos said. “Over the summer, we went through the dorms together and checked all the systems — we replaced shower heads, moved a backflow preventer, made sure ovens and toilets were operating correctly, and took a lot of safety precautions, like checking fire sprinklers and fire pumps. Aisha is great with her tools and she’s clear-sighted. She thinks about what she does before she does it, which is awesome. She's very hands-on and she wants to learn.”
The co-op experience has helped Olivier broaden her scope of interest in the field: “It has definitely opened me up to residential plumbing — before, I was super opposed to doing that.” Although, she said, her favorite building to work in is still the Hart Center at the Luth Athletic Complex: “It’s all commercial and vacuum breakers are my favorite thing to do.”
The trickiest buildings to work in? No question, Polenski, Cappos and Olivier agree: “Fenwick and O’Kane!”
The co-op initiative is not only providing students with hands-on learning and filling significant skilled-trades employment gaps, but it is also shining a spotlight for the entire campus community on the crucial role of facilities in keeping campus life running smoothly — and safely.
Many people don’t realize the impact of plumbers when it comes to maintaining public health, pointed out Cappos, citing a slogan and poster created by the American Standard fixture company in 1924: “The Plumber Protects the Health of the Nation.” It’s a phrase plumbers widely adopted to remind the general public that their work guards public health, from preventing waterborne disease and lead poisoning to scalding and electrocution.
Olivier even has a T-shirt with the slogan emblazoned on the back. “I got it at a plumbing convention,” she noted, adding that there are many historical examples of the deadly impact of improper or nonexistent plumbing. “But we don't just deal with disgustingness and unclogging!” she said. “Although, I admit, that's how I saw it before I got into the field.”
“People picture [Nintendo’s] Mario and Luigi,” Cappos added. “Or, they think about drain cleaner, which we do sometimes, but we are also trained on gas lines and do a lot of gas installs.”
“And we deal with all the acid waste and lab gasses on campus,” Polenski added.
Plus, there are rigorous inspections and codes to follow. “And those codes can change in the blink of an eye,” Olivier said. It’s why she has such an appreciation for her field and the expertise involved: “When it comes to new construction, it's art. We deal with PVC, which is our plastic venting and drainage pipe, and now we have PEX. You get to see nothing turn into something. And at the end of the day, I can say, ‘I did that.’”
WHAT’S AHEAD
The co-op has given Olivier insight into all the career possibilities ahead: “I have now had the experience of learning a trade and knowing that I can work in this field or even use these skills one day when I own my own home. And working at a college, I get to see what college life is like for a lot of people.”
Cappos, who started working at Holy Cross within the past year, shared his reasons for choosing employment at the College: “Holy Cross offered long-term benefits, like a pension and health insurance, and Steve [Polenski] was great in the interview. Also, it’s not as much of a kill-your-body kind of environment because you're more so maintaining rather than doing fresh installs.”
In the immediate future, Olivier knows what’s next: “I'm working at Holy Cross until June, and then I am entering the U.S. Army after I graduate.” Polenski even connected Olivier with his son, a veteran, so he could share what to expect and answer her questions.
She promised to keep in touch while she serves.
“It's all about making a difference — especially having younger sisters, I’m showing them that you don't have to go the default route,” said Olivier, who is active in the Massachusetts Girls in Trades organization. “You can do whatever you want — you can go into plumbing or the military. You can take risks.”
“We are so glad to have Aisha here,” Polenski said. “She is up for the challenge.”
“More than anything, I love that we are connecting with the community through this initiative and making sure that Holy Cross is investing in the wealth of knowledge that surrounds us,” McCullen said.
