A group of young adults have found a path to employment that does not require knowledge of coding, social media, nor the latest technological tools. In fact, they have been trained in how to work with some of the oldest materials humans have used, namely, brick, stone, and mortar.

 

The Bridge to Crafts Careers – Preservation Training Program (PTP) was a 10-week course, organized by the Woodlawn Conservancy, to help young people aged 18 to 24 gain hands-on experience in cleaning monuments, learning how to cut and clean mortar joints, and repointing using traditional methods.  Repointing is the process of chipping out old mortar, the bonding material seen between individual bricks or stones, and replacing it with new mortar. The most traditional method is done slowly and deliberately with a hammer and chisel.

 

The training extended beyond just working with a few tools though. At the completion ceremony, held in the Woolworth Chapel in Woodlawn Cemetery on May 19, Sasha Erazo spoke about the variety of training the participants received, which ranged from, “pointing to building a scaffold, operating a manlift, bricklaying, caulking, using power tools, and [facing] my fear of heights.” There was also an additional training skill that Throggs Neck resident, Erazo, 24, learned over the course of the program. Being the sole female participant in the program, Erazo joked, “Working with all guys should be a skill in itself.”

 

The group of 17 interns is the eighth cohort to finish the annual program. The Woodlawn Conservancy started it back in 2015 with help from the World Monuments Fund and the International Masonry Institute. The cemetery, founded in 1863, provides an abundant training ground for those eager to learn such masonry skills.

 

The 400-acre burial ground has approximately 130,000 memorials, including 1,300 private family mausoleums, according to a press release.  The Woodlawn website describes the memorials on site as representing “the largest and finest collection of funerary art in the country.”

 

Since 2015, interns and apprentices have helped restore over 250 monuments and mausolea, developing some of the same hard skills necessary to care for the diversity of buildings in the greater metropolitan area.

 

The training program holds a special place for Edward F. Markiewicz, president of Woodlawn Cemetery & Conservancy. “It is one of the most worthwhile things that the Woodlawn Cemetery and Woodlawn Conservancy do, and we’re very, very happy and proud to have it here,” Markiewicz said.

 

A reciprocal relationship exists between the cemetery and the interns as a result of the program. Markiewicz told the interns, “You should be proud too because you made contributions here to the cemetery in the past 10 weeks. Your efforts help the cemetery look better than before you started…. This is a very special place and I hope you always remember that you worked here, and you improved it while you were here.”

 

Indeed, for the previous 142 interns who have gone through the program, they can also point to the structures and monuments with a feeling of pride and accomplishment. Susan Olsen, director of historical services at Woodlawn, reminded the newest interns of that feeling that they will soon have. “They can point to the Woolworth building, the Chrysler building, Lincoln Center, and say ‘I did that,’” Olsen said, referring to some of the restorative work that alumni have worked on across the City.

 

Graduates of the program have gone on to work with the Bricklayers and Associated Craftworkers Union, Local 1 of the International Union of Bricklayers and Allied Craftworkers, independent restoration firms, as well as in the construction industry.

 

During his first semester in college in 2021, Tyrahel Coleman, 18, a Wakefield resident, experienced a brain aneurism. After being released from the hospital, he reassessed his future goals in February. Reconnecting with his high school guidance counselor, he became aware of The Door, a youth-oriented outreach program that helps young people find a wide range of services, including college preparation, career development, job training and placement, among many others.

 

The Door organizes job preparation workshops for interns at the Woodlawn program. Coleman signed up for the training at Woodlawn and immersed himself in the field of masonry work.

 

“We gained a new amount of knowledge about the specific amount of work,” Coleman recalls. “It was masonry and construction, which meant a new door for opportunity.” He echoed the words of great appreciation mentioned by the other interns for the thorough training they received from their instructors and craftsmen, Robert Cappiello, Gerald Dowd, Lorenzo Peralta, and Fernando Gonzalez.

 

Aliano Mattey, 23, commuted to Woodlawn from his home in Highbridge for the duration of the training. He shared some special memories of the course with his fellow interns. “Today, we come to meet and appreciate the goals that this program has helped us achieve. From getting new skills for potential careers to having the honor of restoring headstones and monuments for families, we have new knowledge, new skills, new friends, thus renewing ourselves,” Mattey said.

 

“The appreciation I have towards Susan [Olsen] and all the instructors for allowing us to work at Woodlawn Cemetery, The Door for reaching out to individuals such as myself…and the experiences that I have encountered, thank you from me, and all my fellow graduates.”