High School Girls Learn About Non-Traditional Career Paths
High School Girls Learn About Non-Traditional Career Paths
Posted
David Slone-dslone@timesuniononline.com
High School Girls Learn About Non-Traditional Career PathsThough a tornado warning Tuesday morning stopped the Nontraditional Employment for Women workshop briefly, it didn't keep the high school sophomores from learning about career possibilities.
One of those careers happened to be a meteorologist, WNDU Channel 16's Cindi Clawson.
Unfortunately, Clawson didn't have Internet connection at the Center Lake Pavilion, but she did have her cell phone and a weather radio to keep track of the weather.
At one point, all the girls were sent into the bathrooms and a side room until the warning passed.
Clawson said she was able to use that morning's experience to talk to the sophomores about how the day's weather could be somewhat of a historic storm. She talked about how strong the winds were and suggested they watch the news Tuesday night.
While some of the girls might have been concerned about the weather, Clawson said it was a weather person's paradise.
Tornadoes and related weather aren't uncommon in October and November. Sunday night, Warsaw had a tornado warning but there was a tornado in Coloma, Mich. A tornado hit Nappanee in October 2007, and on Nov. 4 in 2002 or 2003, an F4 tornado hit Van Wert, Ohio, Clawson said.
While the weather made Clawson a star for the day, the keynote speaker was Phyllis Malis.
Malis told the girls she spent 25 years as a welder.
"What we do is control metal by using heat," Malis said.
The welding throws a lot of sparks and is "very exciting," she said.
For her job, Malis said she has to wear particular clothing, but doesn't have to have short hair to do her job. The clothing protects her from sparks and heat.
She demonstrated the clothing a welder wears, including a jacket, safety glasses, welding hood, gloves and a beanie.
In high school, Malis didn't take any shop classes because back then girls were not allowed to be in sports or take shop classes.
"When I got into welding and had to read blueprints, I wanted to go back to high school and slap my counselor because drafting class would have been helpful," she said.
She said she kind of fell into welding by accident.
She was living in Northwestern Indiana and wasn't getting paid enough. She lived near a steel mill. There was a two-year waiting list to be a secretary, but she was offered the chance to apply for the apprenticeship program.
Malis took the test, and scored high enough. Of a list of jobs available, she only recognized the welder. She got hired into that apprenticeship program. She received the training, but didn't want to work in the steel mill all her life, so she went for her teacher's license. She became a welding teacher.
Malis became the first woman after World War II to become an A-Rate welder. She became the first woman welding teacher in Indiana when she was hired by School City of Hammond. She retired in June after 25 years at the Hammond Area Career Center.
The best advice she ever got was from her mother.
"She said make sure you can support yourself. You don't know what will happen," Malis said.
She told the nearly 200 girls to choose something they like when they choose a job.
"As you're making choices as you go in life, make the good ones," said Malis.
Schools represented at the workshop included Fairfield, Tippecanoe Valley, Triton, Warsaw, Wawasee, West Noble and Whitko high schools.
The NEW Workshop is an opportunity for young women to see the possibilities for their future with a career that each may not have thought about or known was available to them. The purpose of the workshop is to expand the career possibilities for young women to consider and hopefully they will find one of interest to them.
The theme for the eighth annual workshop was "Spark Your Future - Blazing Hot Careers for Women".
After Malis' keynote speech, there were five round-table discussions. Starting at 12:30 p.m., the girls were able to try activities related to the various fields presented at the workshop.
"I think it was a really good experience," said Alex Sanchez, Warsaw Community High School. "It's truly eye-opening that there are many choices out there for men and women."
Sanchez looked at the careers of air traffic controller, forensic scientist, firefighter and attorney. She found the attorney most interesting.
"I've been interested in law for a number of years and I might go into that," she said.
Sanchez said she wasn't surprised at any of the careers at the workshop.
"Not really," she said. "Women have the same abilities as men do, so we should have the same career opportunities."
Courtney Newsome, Alexis Swihart and Megan Heinold are all Tippecanoe Valley High School sophomores.
"I thought it was cool to see all the cool stuff, especially the mortuary science," said Newsome.
"I liked the meteorology one because I thought it was interesting how she learned about the weather," said Swihart.
Heinold didn't have any suggestions for improvement. "I thought it was fine the way it is," she said.
Sarah Rantz, Wawasee High School, said, "I thought it was a good experience. It just showed everyone all the different kind of things you can do with your life. It was really helpful."
