Alex Johnson doesn’t crumble working under often brutal conditions, erecting walls, joining girders and welding steel as a carpenter.

But his first day of college terrified him.

“I was scared as hell,” said the 33-year-old Bronx resident. “I didn’t think I could do it.”

Johnson enrolled last September in a special two-year-old program organized through the New York City District Council of Carpenters that helps members earn associate’s and bachelor’s degrees.

Read More