Mason

From a childhood raised within foster care, he found a career combining his interests in building and creating art. Now, he is entrusted with restoring centuries-old buildings to preserve their traditions. 

CHILDHOOD

Francis Rosario (FR) was abandoned by his Hispanic parents and mostly raised by foster parents in New York City, where he was placed several times into transitional housing but longed to settle down in one permanent residence.

About halfway into high school, the foster agency contacted FR’s natural father, who agreed to have FR live with him. When that didn’t work out, he was returned to transitional housing before being assigned to the care of a different foster family, where he found a calm and supportive environment.

To focus on more positive things in his life, FR loved to draw and took up sculpting as a hobby.

CHALLENGE – FOSTER CARE

Without natural parents and having to navigate the foster system alone, FR said, “At some point, you start blaming yourself in this process. Really? Was it something I did wrong? Am I a bad kid? Am I a bad person?” he recalled thinking. But his foster parents “understood that I wasn’t in my situation because I put myself there,” he said. “It was just sort of: Bad things happened, and life moved on.”

EDUCATION

FR started high school as an honor student enrolled in advanced placement classes, but troubles at home derailed his attention from his academic studies. The whole experience of moving around without parental guidance took a toll. He often had trouble sleeping and was stressed and worried about the impermanence of his situation and where he would live after foster care. As a result, he missed classes and failed several courses. 

To get himself back on track with school, FR thought becoming an engineer would be a career offering stability.

While FR felt fortunate to graduate from high school and get into a college engineering program, college wasn’t the experience he hoped it would be. Expenses became unaffordable, so he dropped out and devised a new plan. He began considering other ways to combine his comfort with the mathematical elements of engineering with his first love: art.

INTERNSHIP

Pondering his adult future, FR self-assessed his willingness to work hard to learn plus his interests in engineering and art. He read about masonry and historic preservation, which sounded like work that would help him to tap into all his skills and interests, so he took online courses and soaked up all he could learn about the certifications he would need to restore buildings. 

“Getting into masonry was sort of like a shot in the dark,” said FR. He researched job programs and applied for an internship at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where he was accepted and began to learn the value in ‘making the old new again’ and the rigor it requires. “The building has to be preserved in its own right,” said FR. 

INTERNSHIP LEADS TO A CAREER

Editor’s note – An internship serves several purposes at the same time: (1) Learn whether you like the type of work you are observing and assisting while under supervision – picture whether you want to learn more and devote yourself to being the best at the tasks involved; or (2) Discover that you don’t have a long-term interest in this line of work; (3) If you wish to proceed in this type of career, you may meet people who could become long-term mentors or open opportunities with other organizations. 

Finding that he liked masonry, the Met internship led FR to the career program at Green Wood Cemetery, where one of his first assignments was to restore the roof of a mausoleum, one of the most elaborate structures in the many acres of the well-established cemetery. 

For a successful restoration of the roof, FR had to get the color and the interlocking pattern of the stones ‘just right’ so the new roof would blend seamlessly into the original – a test of FR’s persistence and precision. 

“I was so proud of it because after tinting and texturing, it was identical,” he said. “We had lost track of the patch.”

CAREER SATISFACTION

As FR learns his craft, what motivates him is the chance to be creative. Growing up, he was fascinated by New York’s rich street art tradition. He now sees how that art form is connected to the city’s centuries-old stone buildings as well as today’s steel and glass skyscrapers. They all put their mark on the character of the city, and he is eager to add his own, by giving unused spaces new life and beauty. “I want to be a part of that journey,” he said. 

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This career story is based on a news article / editorial written by “The Editorial Board” of The New York Times, published on 12/22/22.