IMMOKALEE -- Gescarson Latouche was born in Haiti. When he was four years old, he moved to Paris, France with his mother. At thirteen, Gescarson came to Florida to live with his uncle in West Palm Beach. A year later, his mother joined him, and together they settled in Immokalee to live with Gescarson’s grandmother. In 2014, he graduated from Immokalee High School. “After high school, I was young and didn’t know what I wanted to do. Machining was never even in my thoughts,” Gescarson reflects.

He worked at the Seminole Casino for two years, and then found employment in Naples at Parker Hannifin, a manufacturer of precision-engineered parts for the mobile, industrial, and aerospace markets. “I was a painter at Parker and would hear my coworkers talk about the CNC business. I asked my boss about it, and he said if I wanted to do CNC, I had to go back to school. So I did.”

Gescarson enrolled in the machining program at the Center for Manufacturing Excellence (CME), Immokalee Technical College’s machining career-training satellite in Golden Gate, in February 2020, just a month prior to COVID forcing all the schools to close and resort to virtual instruction. The virtual instruction time allowed Gescarson to concentrate on bookwork and online CNC lessons. In August, he was excited about reporting to the classroom for hands-on training with machines and interaction with an instructor. “Mr. Porter is one of the best teachers. He knows what’s right and what’s wrong. I learned so much from him. Mr. Porter is one of the most nice, helpful teachers I ever had,” Gescarson adds.

On May 28, 2021, Gescarson, iTECH’s June Student of the Month, had the honor of being the very first official graduate of the Center for Manufacturing Excellence. Machining instructor, Ross Porter praised Gescarson. “I think he is one of the hardest workers I have met in a while. Even when he got frustrated with some assignments, he would come in the next day with a whole new attitude. He earned his diploma.”

Gescarson is now working in CNC at Parker Hannifin. When asked how he felt about his job, he said, “I love it. There is so much to learn. There is always something to get better at. Every day is a different day. I learn from the experienced guys. I show that I am willing to learn and listen.”

Gescarson is an avid Washington Red Skins fan and travels several times a year to Washington, D.C. for the home games. It is no surprise that his future plans are to establish his own CNC business in (You guessed it.) Washington, D.C.