Recently students in the Lewiston Regional Technical Center Trades Career Cluster program completed a wheel chair ramp and porch for a disabled veteran from Lewiston. Among the group of a dozen or so students are just two young women, both of whom have high career aspirations.

Jessica Denis, 16, from Lewiston, is a junior at LRTC; she has academic and career plans laid out. “I will continue to get as much experience as I can while at LRTC, after graduation I hope to enter into an apprenticeship doing cabinetry.”

Aside from her academic work at LRTC, Denis is also the vice president of SkillsUSA Maine. SkillsUSA is a national nonprofit organization serving teachers and high school and college students who are preparing for careers in trade, technical and skilled service occupations, including health occupations. Nationally, SkillsUSA serves more than 300,000 students and instructors through 13,000 school chapters in 54 state associations.

Denis says her participation in ‘Skills’ is particularly helpful as a young woman interested in career fields dominated by men. “The chance to talk with other students and network with professionals is important. LRTC and ‘Skills’ have both been important when it comes to supporting my goals.”

The U.S. Department of Labor considers non-traditional occupations to be those in which women comprise 25 percent or less of total employed. In 2008, 68 million women were employed in the United States, only 1 percent working in trades related to construction or maintenance.

Another organization supporting women interested in non-traditional careers is Women Unlimited. Their mission is to improve the economic well-being of Maine women, minorities, and displaced workers by providing access to trade, technical, and transportation careers, and to provide on-going support. Their executive director, Lib Jamison, believes Maine’s career and technical education schools (like LRTC) can play a crucial and unique role in introducing young women to trades. “Through their hands-on approach, all students can see what it takes to do the work.”

Jamison also says it is important for career and technical schools to discuss the earnings potential these jobs hold. “With the right experience, right out of high school these careers pay considerably more than jobs young women have traditionally taken. Add a two-year degree from a community college and the earning potential increases even more.”

Women employed in non-traditional jobs earn higher wages than women employed in traditionally female occupations. This statistic is important since nationwide the median weekly earnings of women (full-time and salary workers) was 80% that of men.

Denis’s message to other young women interested in the trades: “Take advantage of your support networks. Talk with family members, guidance counselors and friends. Make sure they are aware of your interests.”

For more information about Maine’s career and technical education schools, students are encouraged to visit with their guidance counselor or visit www.mainecte.org.

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