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One-hundred sixty-seven sophomore girls from seven area high schools gathered Tuesday to hear about non-traditional employment opportunities for women.
The third annual Non-traditional Employment for Women workshop was held at the Carpenters and Millwright Training Center, 1095 Mariner Drive, Warsaw. According to Phil Metcalf, NOW committee member and representing the Wawasee Area Career and Technical Cooperative, the participating high schools include Warsaw, Wawasee, Triton, West Noble, Fairfield, Whitko and Tippecanoe Valley. Each school invites about 25-30 girls to attend the workshop to expose them to career opportunities they may not have considered otherwise.
Metcalf said some of the girls make connections at the workshop that may help them with their careers in the future.
Keynote speaker Susan Donkers kicked off the day's events. Donkers is the construction manager for Equity Office Properties. She is a Warsaw Community High School and Purdue University graduate.
Donkers told the assembly that when she entered Purdue, she wasn't sure what she wanted to do for a career. Having to declare a major, she chose management. Along the way, she discovered she was interested in tangible things like buildings. She asked questions and began studying building construction management.
Her first internship job in college landed her in Florida. Her next summer job was in Chicago, as part of a team that built a building near Union Station. For her job between her senior year and an extra semester of school, she landed a job in San Francisco, Calif., to learn "about the guts of a building."
After graduating from college in December 2001, she moved to Washington, D.C. Her first job was as a project engineer. The project engineer, she said, is "the center of the construction universe." The position is responsible for all data and documents, including blueprints, contracts and samples. The average starting salary for a project engineer is $40,000 to $50,000 per year. However, project engineers are expected to work 10-hour days.
While there are drawbacks to her job, being a woman has never been one of them, Donkers said.
"It hasn't been a big deal," she said. "There are other girls. ... Things are a lot different and being a girl is not an issue."
Donkers also was part of the Pentagon renovation project after a part of it was destroyed in the 9/11 attacks. The Pentagon renovation started in 1999, and had to be restarted after the 2001, attacks.
The Pentagon was rebuilt with Indiana limestone. Donkers said her job included the building of a tunnel. "I can't tell you where it goes," she said.
She also was part of the Pentagon Memorial Design Team. Fundraising for the memorial is ongoing and needs $10 million more to be completed, she said.
Her third and final project was the National Military Command Center, which requires top secret clearance and she couldn't speak more about it.
Last summer, she left the Pentagon project for a promotion from project engineer to construction management for Equity Office Properties.
"They're a lot like Trump, only they're public. You can buy stock in them," Donkers said.
She also advised the girls to check the Web site www.tech.purdue.edu/Bcm/Resources for more information on other jobs in construction.
"Being a woman is not a drawback," Donkers said. "You can be a part of the team like anyone else."
Following the keynote address, the students met with women in non-traditional occupations via round table discussions. Participating career women came from such fields as administrative education, ministry, police investigations, politician, welding, architect, computer technician, pilot, radio broadcasting, tool & die journeyman, meteorologist and emergency services, among others.
In the afternoon, many of the presenters had "try-it" sessions for students to have hands-on experiences. Lunch was provided by local sponsors.
Tony Etienne, area coordinator for career and technology education for Tippecanoe Valley, Whitko and Warsaw, said they tried to have participants from occupations that are considered non-traditional by the state. The state maintains a list of careers it deems non-traditional for women.
"I think it really helps us girls see what we can do in the future," said WCHS student Belen Cervantes of the workshop.
