Mathurin Vilcin’s philosophy is, “If someone else can do it, I can do it!”  That way of thinking is the driving force behind everything he accomplishes. It’s not surprising that when he arrived in the United States in 2008, it took him only five years to learn to speak English, earn a GED and get promoted to manager at McDonald’s.

After earning his GED, Mathurin attended Florida Southwest College for a year, and still wasn’t sure if that was the pathway he really wanted to follow.  One day he was talking to his friend, Jehu Auguste, a student in the iTECH Machining Program who invited Mathurin to visit the class.  “I didn’t even know what machining was,” said Mathurin.  “Once I saw it, I fell in love with it and enrolled in the program.”

When Mathurin was just about ready to complete the last two of his projects, the pandemic forced the schools to close in March 2020, and he lost access to the machines in the classroom.  Mathurin was able to complete the program on line and was hired by Arthrex as a machine operator associate in May, but those two projects were still on his mind.  “I wanted my NIMS Certificate of Special Merit, and I wanted to see my certificate and my name on the classroom wall,” he asserted.   So as soon as the schools were able to reopen in August, Mathurin returned to the classroom after work, on his own time and completed the projects and all the requirements to achieve that certificate.

“Mathurin is a great student,” reflects machining instructor Greg Richter.  “He’s definitely self-motivated.  He came to school all day and then went to work at McDonald’s in the evening.”

Mathurin has now been promoted to machine operator 1 and hopes to be selected for the Arthrex apprenticeship program in the future.  “The competition is tough, but if someone else can do it, I can do it!” he assures.  (Mathurin’s friend, Jehu, who introduced him to the world of machining is already in the Arthrex apprenticeship program at iTECH.)