Con Ed mentors local girl

When Middle Village resident Erica Mizutani, 19, walked into the Con Ed plant in Astoria for the first time, the first thing she saw was a forklift with wheels that were bigger than her.
“It was fantastic,” Mizutani said. “I just fell in love with it.”
Three years later, Mizutani, who is finishing her studies at the Summit School - a private, not-for-profit school that helps children with special needs develop the tools necessary to achieve success - credits her experience at Con Ed for helping her get into Lincoln Technical Institute and perhaps find a career.
Mizutani has interned with Con Ed since 2005, and she was the first female prevocational student at the garage.
“I wanted to see what they did there,” Mizutani said. “It wasn’t something I was always interested in, [but] it was something I had to see.”
During the school year, Mizutani would travel one day a week with a Summit job coach to the different Con Ed garages and plants learning all of the different tasks associated with becoming a mechanic.
However, it was during a four-week summer internship program that really piqued her interest.
“I was there for four weeks,” Mizutani said. “It was wonderful. I can’t even begin to tell you how much I learned.”
Mizutani believes it was her inquisitiveness and propensity for asking questions to the Con Ed workers that helped her learn so much. In addition, she formed strong relationships with a number Con Ed workers and managers at the plant.
“They were more than nice to me,” Mizutani said. “They told me whatever it was I wanted to know.”
Emily Seltzer, the Director of Transition Services for the Summit School, agreed. “The Con Ed people welcomed her,” said Emily Seltzer. “They became invested in her education.”
In fact, one of the Con Ed mechanics persuaded Mizutani to explore the program at Lincoln Tech, and Seltzer believes Mizutani’s internship helped her pass the test and qualify for the program.
Mizutani hopes to become a master mechanic while studying at Lincoln Tech, and she did not rule out coming back to Con Ed after she completed her studies.
“I don’t see why not,” Mizutani said.