Female high school students gathered at Fanshawe College in London, Ont. for the annual ‘Jill of All Trades’ event. “I’ve always loved working with my hands and helping out around the house and helping my dad with little projects,” said Dakotah Tripp, a Grade 11 student. The workshop is designed to inspire young women to pursue a career in skilled trades and technologies. “They’re working with mentors who are talking about what happens in the industry and their own experiences as either apprentices or skilled trades persons,” said Melanie Neerhof, Dean at the School of Building Technology at Fanshawe College. Students got to participate in a variety of hands-on activities like plumbing, carpentry, and making their very own ‘c-clamp,’ a clamping device used to hold wood or metal in place. Grade 11 student Kya Mansfield said it was ‘difficult’ to pick her favourite station. “I just wanted to get hands-on with everything,” said Mansfield. Students said the opportunity to learn from and work with “like-minded” women was “empowering.” “It really inspires me, just seeing how the women here have been able to progress with whatever they want to do,” said Amaya Cole, a grade 9 student. “It just shows that I can do it too.” Mansfield said the experience was “inspiring.” “Not just for me but for everyone here today,” she said. “It’s really good to see other girls and see what we can become.” Neerhof said this comes at a time when the need for skilled trades workers is critical, now more than ever. “We are going to need 950,000 new skilled trade graduates coming up over the next decade, which means 95,000 employees every year for the next 10 years to fill that gap,” explained Neerhof. Zoey Davey, a Fanshawe graduate and Welding and Fabrication Technician, knows firsthand the challenges of working in a male-dominated industry, and how to push past them. “It’s good to meet people who will be there and who will support you and fight for you, but you just need to know that you earned your spot as much as anybody else did,” said Davey. “You will meet people who will stand up for you.” Although they know the road ahead won’t be easy, that isn’t stopping future generations from claiming their place in the industry. “I feel like events like this help to change that and give girls more confidence to be like yes I belong,” said Tripp.
