Ashley Rizzo, The Engineer that Could

After completing the TCU/IAM Advanced Training Program—Rail Freight Service Worker in 2013 at the Gary Job Corps Center in Texas under the guidance of her transportation instructor, Mr. Lane Shelton, Ashley accepted a Train Crew/Conductor position with Union Pacific in Ogden, Utah. By 2015 Ashley qualified as an Engineer! 

As a Human Services trade completer, Ashley stated that she had many friends going to TCU and said, "I never considered trains as a career path, but I wasn't ready to leave Job Corps; I didn't feel like I was done, yet."

Ashley appreciated the support system she got from all the staff, especially from Mr. Shelton. She still keeps in contact with Lane Shelton and visits him at the Excelsior Springs Job Corps, where she inspires a whole new class of students with her encouraging life story, "It takes some thick skin to work out here. I like the fact that I can drive a train; crazy things happen, and I can handle them. It makes my dad pretty proud, and that makes me happy."