First Row (left to right): Tommy Barton, Antoine Balan, Patrick Barton, Giovany Gracia. Second Row (left to right): Amber Riddle, Lyle Doherty, Xzarria Foster, Dylan Zraket Tayara Romero, Arianna Ross, Leandra Bautista, Facilitator: Samantha Bolt. Third Row (left to right): Facilitator: Jamey Thompson, Yandri Hernandez, Christopher Jacques, Stephen Freitas, Lourdes Jean-Louis, Nathaniel Concepcion, Melanie Baxter, Sasha Porokhina.

The CIT/ LIT Job Readiness Program held its graduation on July 24, 2014 from 12:30-2:00 at The Tufts Administration Building inside the SCALE program.

The graduating class consisted of students between the ages of 13-15, who dedicated four-weeks out of their summer to participate in a program that taught them about job readiness and leadership skills.

Throughout the four weeks these students learned how to lead children, the significance of leadership and communication, the meaning of diversity, how to solve conflicts, and employment training.

This program not only taught the student’s skills that they need to work with children but also gave them the opportunity to work with kids at camp settings at The Somerville YMCA’s Summer Day Camp and the Somerville Recreation’s Somertime Day Program.

This session’s graduating class included the following 20 students: Antoine Balan, Patrick Barton, Tommy Barton, Leandra Bautista, Melanie Baxter, Nathaniel Concepcion, Lyle Doherty, Xzarria Foster, Stephen Freitas, Giovany Gracia, Yandri Hernandez, Lourdes Jean-Louis, Jeremy Martindale, Joshua Martindale, Sasha Porokhina, Amber Riddle, Tayara Romero, Arianna Ross, Christopher Tarques, and Dylan Zraket.

The collaborative efforts of the Somerville YMCA, the Somerville Community Youth Program, the Somerville Recreation Department, the Somertime Day Program, and the SCALE Program have been the dynamic forces behind this program’s great success.

The CIT/LIT Job Readiness program would like to thank everyone for their hard work and support throughout the past eleven years that the program has been running. For more information about the program, please contact Joe Pinto at the Somerville YMCA (617) 625-5050.