'If I can do it, you can do it': Former CVS workforce development student now manages facility

In 2016, McKenzie Schiavone was a junior in high school when Jon DaSilva, senior adviser for workforce initiatives at CVS Health, came to Greater Lowell Technical High School to give a presentation to her class. DaSilva, a Greater Lowell Tech grad himself, told the students about the company’s Workforce Innovation and Talent Centers.

The WITCs are part of CVS Health's Workforce Initiatives, which work with untapped and underserved sources of talent to connect people with job opportunities.

Schiavone was looking for work, because both her mother and her grandmother were very sick. Through the WITC, which has a site on Federal Street in Boston, Schiavone was trained in a mock store and a simulated pharmacy environment, where she learned to count pills and work with customers. About 1,600 people are trained through the center each year.

“I took a shot in the dark to try it out,” Schiavone told the Business Journal.

Schiavone soon became a pharmacy technician and started working at CVS at least 30 hours a week, in addition to her school work and extracurriculars, to support her family. Around her senior year, she also lost housing and was living from her car.

“The only thing I had stable was my employment at CVS,” she said. 

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In 2017, Schiavone graduated in the top 10 of her class from Greater Lowell Tech. She started growing her career at CVS, becoming a district performance coordinator. DaSilva, who is also a Greater Lowell Tech grad, also became one of her biggest mentors and supporters, guiding her through her career so far.

When a job opened up for a manager of the Boston WITC in fall of 2022, DaSilva recommended Schiavone apply, so that she could train people whose shoes she had once walked in.

“She had a ton of potential to go back to students and say, ‘if I can do it, you can do it,’” DaSilva said. 

Schiavone has been in the Boston WITC since October 2022. What's more, she recently adopted two daughters with her fiancé. 

Schiavone, who said she always wanted a career in medicine, said she feels empowered by lifting people up and helping people whom she can relate to.  

“The gratefulness and the confidence boost from people of where they started in the beginning when they walk into the WITC, and then walk out and learn,” she said, is what continues to encourage her.

Also in 2022, DaSilva worked with Greater Lowell Tech to open another WITC on campus, for easier access to students and the community.

“I always remembered everything I learned at Greater Lowell Tech,” he said. “I wanted to do something at my old high school.”

He said that the WITC works to help people get into long term careers, and that because CVS is such a large company, there’s a lot of room for growth. 

“CVS is so huge they can really make what they want for themselves out of it,” he said. “And we are here for them every step of the way.”