Windsor carpenter, Delaney Krieger, said “You can’t be anything you don’t know about,” at the We Build a Dream Career Discovery Expo that was held at the Bradley Centre just a few weeks back. The event was held by Windsor non-profit organization Build a Dream, and shows off careers where females are typically underrepresented. Examples of these careers include, the trades, emergency response, or STEM based professions.
The event was sponsored by St. Clair College and had the goal of giving young girls an opportunity to meet women in the trades and give them ideas that they may not have considered previously. Delaney Krieger said that she felt she was pushed to attend university after high school, however, she was barely able to sit at a desk. She was also told that she was too smart for the trades, an idea that she disagrees with.
Krieger went on to say, “I love my job, It’s hands on. I’m so excited to go to work. It’s been four years and I still feel like that. If you love what you do you never work a day in your life.” Krieger was a part of the five member panel that took the stage at the event in order to discuss the barriers facing females entering the male dominated work spaces.
Warren Seton, was assisting the staff of the OYAP (Ontario Youth Apprenticing Program) booth for the St. Clair Catholic District School Board and said that change is on its way when it comes to women choosing careers that are typically male dominated. Stating that, “I’m definitely seeing a change when it comes to young women entering the trades, Skilled trades offer viable and rewarding careers, and there are many good jobs here in Chatham-Kent. We want our young people to stay here, There are good opportunities right here.”
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