Women’s career fair revs up girls’ interest in trades

POSTED: Thursday, May 17, 2012 at 01:42 PM PT

BY: Lindsey O'Brien
Tags: Oregon Tradeswomen, students

Some girls covered their ears as a jackhammer emitted loud blasts and sent streams of dust into the air, but Breah Etherly’s eyes lit up during a concrete breaker demonstration on Thursday.

Eighth-grader Ka'Terria Phillips, left, gets a lesson in tying rebar from Kirk Bearden, an ironworker with Local 29, during the 20th annual Women in Trades Career Fair. (Photo by Sam Tenney/DJC)

If you go:

What: Nontraditional career fair connecting girls and female job seekers to apprenticeship and job training opportunities in building, construction, mechanical, technical and utility trades.
When: Today, for registered high school girls; Saturday, for the public from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Also on Saturday, at 1:30 p.m., Oregon Tradeswomen Inc. will present an information session about its free seven-week pre-apprenticeship class for women.
Where: NECA/IBEW Electrical Training Center, 16021 N.E. Airport Way in Portland
Cost: Free.

“It’s nice to say you tried something new,” said Etherly, an eighth-grader at Harvey Scott School. “Working with different tools is good exposure for girls.”

The jackhammer workshop, led by women from the Oregon and Southern Idaho Laborers and Employers Training Trust, was among dozens of events taking place during the 20th annual Women in Trades Career Fair at the NECA-IBEW Electrical Training Center in Northeast Portland.

Nearly 600 girls from 21 middle schools revved up power tools, climbed electrical poles, built birdhouses and learned about careers in the trades to kick off this year’s event.

“Our efforts over the years have meant that Oregon has two times the number of women in trades compared to other states that don’t have similar efforts,” saidConnie Ashbrook, executive director ofOregon Tradeswomen Inc., which started the fair in 1993.

Although many of the middle school students at the fair said they aren’t planning on pursuing careers in the trades, one of OTI’s goals is simply to expose more young women to the construction industry.

“Most of the girls have never used a power tool before and are afraid of the noise at first,” said Aida Aranda, an apprentice coordinator for the training trust. “But once they get out here, it encourages them to open their eyes.”

Zakeiba Ofusu, left, and Zharia Hale, both eighth-graders at the SEI Academy, learn to repair a broken water main at a station sponsored by the Portland Water Bureau. (Photo by Sam Tenney/DJC)

She added that middle school girls are becoming increasingly receptive to careers in the trades, especially as the industry ramps up its outreach through Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

On the other side of the fair, roofers from Local 49 set up a table to demonstrate some of the materials and processes they use to build green roofing systems, which many of the students from H.B. Lee Middle School didn’t even know existed.

“These roofs actually help the environment and make things better for people,” seventh-grader Karly Emmett said.

The middle school girls built flowerpots using adhesives, primers and single-ply sheets that roofers use on the job.

Tationia Thompson, left, learns to connect structural beams under supervision from Kat Lakey, an ironworker with Local 29. (Photo by Sam Tenney/DJC)

The goal Thursday was mainly to demonstrate that “girls can do anything,” said Heidi Kameroff, a roofing apprentice who is directing the Local 49 workshop this year. But today, she added, the event will host hundreds of high school girls, who are more focused on career possibilities.

“We figure the middle school girls are just exploring at this point, so it’s good to give them a taste of what we do,” Kameroff said. “The high school girls will actually do some heat welding – it’s going to be really cool.”

A few high school students are ahead of the game, however. Juniors and seniors from ACE Academy led a workshop on Thursday, helping younger girls build wooden puzzles.

ACE, a shared-time program for juniors and seniors interested in entering the building industries, is seeing more interest from girls. The school’s director, Mike Bryant, said the growth is a direct result of events like the Women in Trades Career Fair.

“Our population of female students has doubled this year,” he said. “Why? These events are having an impact; they’re changing the construction industry.”

Retrieved from: http://djcoregon.com/news/2012/05/17/womens-career-fair-revs-up-girls-interest-in-trades/

Injunction means Quincy residents won’t be required on school job

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File photo

An architect’s rendering shows what the new Central Middle School is to look like.

By Jack Encarnacao

The Patriot Ledger

Posted Apr 20, 2012 @ 03:20 AM

Last update Apr 20, 2012 @ 08:07 AM

QUINCY —

The city will not require that the company selected to build a new Central Middle School hire Quincy residents.

U.S. District Court Judge Rya Zobel issued an injunction against the city, ordering it not to enforce any provisions of its Responsible Employer Ordinance until a lawsuit filed by the Merit Construction Alliance challenging the ordinance is resolved.

Download injunction

Merit Construction Alliance, which has butted heads with Quincy in the past over a contract for the new high school, represents and advocates for non-union construction companies.

In her decision, Zobel indicated that Merit’s request to have Quincy’s ordinance thrown out is likely to succeed based on the criteria under which a similar ordinance in Fall River was struck down in October. Zobel was the judge in that case as well.

Quincy’s ordinance requires that companies that win contracts for city jobs hire 33 percent Quincy residents per trade. It also requires apprenticeship programs.

In an affidavit filed in the case, Quincy Mayor Thomas Koch argued that the city has a substantial reason to set aside jobs for residents because Quincy’s blue-collar sector needs work. Zobel questioned that argument.

“Quincy provides no evidence that the city engaged in an extensive fact finding, conducted or commissioned any studies, or made any determination based on evidence that non-residents were a particular source of the unemployment of Quincy’s blue-collar workers,” Zobel wrote. “Quincy does not provide a constitutionally adequate justification for treating residents and non-residents differently in connection with the construction of its public works projects.”

City Solicitor James Timmins said the injunction timeframe prevented the city from gathering all of the evidence it needs to make its case.

He said the city will present a more full-bodied argument to retain the residency and apprenticeship provisions of the ordinance.

“We’ll continue to litigate to see if we can preserve those two provisions in our ordinance going forward for other projects,” he said.

Merit Construction Alliance President Ronald Cogliano said Quincy’s defense of the ordinance is a waste of taxpayers’ money and is being pursued by Koch “in the name of helping his cronies in organized labor.’’

“There is nothing responsible about Quincy’s city ordinances when they violate the constitutional rights of working men and women and block them from working on construction projects they are paying for with their tax dollars,” Cogliano said.

Girls Get Up-Close Career View At Boston Area School Project

03/26/2012

By Johanna Knapschaefer in Dedham

Text size: A A

Courtesy of Nitsch Engineers

Engineer Christine Breen boosts industry's prospects to students, ages 10 to 18.

Avery Elementary School, an $18-million project in Dedham, Mass., was the site on March 14 for a hands-on classroom in which 150 middle- and high school girls learned how engineering directly affects their world and about the potential for a career in the industry. In the annual program sponsored by Nitsch Engineering, female professionals shared their passion for the work and the challenges of doing technical jobs that involve teamwork.

This year's event—co-sponsored by Consigli Construction, WSP Flack + Kurtz, GEI Consultants and the Engineers Design Group—showed students how different engineering skills are applied inside and outside a building, including, for example, traffic flow and stormwater management, says Nitsch President Judith Nitsch. Jennifer Rand, a Consigli assistant project manager, told the girls about green building and how many materials for the project—the state's first LEED Gold elementary school—had to come from within 500 miles of the site.

Nitsch notes the students' curiosity and enthusiasm, adding that past attendees have gone on to study engineering at MIT, Boston University and the U.S. Naval Academy, among other top schools.

"It was cool talking to people and asking questions about watershed management," says Jenna Glen Wixson, 13, of Kittery, Maine. "I don't know what I want to do in the future, but now I know something about engineering when I didn't really know anything before."



Retrieved from: http://enr.construction.com/business_management/workforce/2012/0326-Girls-Get-Up-Close-Career-View-At-Boston-Area-School-Project-.asp