Phillip Castillo

This month’s installment of our Staff Spotlight series features Beam's welding guru, Phillip Castillo. As a member of the project production team, Phillip works with young people in Beam’s Fellows Program.

Phillip has been part of the Beam community for the last seven years. As a student at Brooklyn International High School (BIHS), Phillip heard about Beam Center through Beam staff member and BIHS alumna, Pilar Perez. He states that Pilar encouraged him to attend the 2016 Inventgenuity Festival, Beam’s annual event full of workshops and activities for families and the public. After having an incredible experience at Inventgenuity, Phillip decided Beam Center was a place for him.

Soon, Phillip was accepted to Beam’s Apprenticeship program, where he learned more job training and technical skills, as well as how to teach those skills to others. Following his completion of the Apprenticeship program, Phillip continued participating in our programs - it wasn’t long before Beam realized it was time to officially hire him.

In his current role on the project production team, Phillip works closely with older youth enrolled in the Fellows program. Here he teaches them technical skills, including woodworking and welding; he assists with and facilitates the project prototyping process; and he mentors Fellows as they learn to work as a team and in a collaborative environment.

In addition to his work as a Beam employee, Phillip is studying to get the Welder Qualification certificate and will be taking the certification exam this June. Phillip is also Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) certified, meaning he is officially equipped to help prevent injuries and keep Beam shop spaces safe.

Happy to have you at Beam, Phillip!