Sophomores Attend Non-Traditional Employment For Women Workshop
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Jennifer Peryam-jperyam@timesuniononline.com
SYRACUSE – Sophomore high school students had the opportunity Thursday to participate in the Non-Traditional Employment For Women Workshop in Syracuse. The workshop at Quaker Haven Camp was attended by 190 sophomores from Tippecanoe Valley, Whitko, Warsaw, West Noble and Fairfield high schools. Also in attendance were Lakeland Christian Academy students. There were 35 non-traditional careers represented including electricians, meteorologists, the military, attorneys, pilots and canine trainers. Other careers represented were air traffic controllers, business owners and heavy equipment operators. Tables were set up with signs that had names of professions with those in the profession sitting at the table to greet students. There were break-out sessions in the morning where students could choose five different careers and visit those tables where those employed in the field could interact with students and talk about their profession. There was a try-it session where students could practice weather forecasting, visit the Science Technology Engineering and Math bus and tour a semi truck. Diana Yarian, program specialist for career and technical education at Warsaw Area Career Center, said Thursday’s program was sponsored by the career center and Wawasee Area Career and Technical Cooperative. “As sophomores, students are still making choices about what they are going to study, and if they choose a career they will know what courses to take to get them on their path,” Yarian said. “My hope is even if they don’t choose a non-traditional career that they walk away with a sense of a career path and hear the stories of these incredible women who are in non-traditional careers.” Ronna Kawsky, Warsaw Area Career Center director, said the message is that students don’t need to let their gender hold them back when they are investigating a career. “Just because you are a girl you can do anything, and gender should be way down on the list of holding you back,” Kawsky said. Elizabeth Perepezko, Zimmer Biomet biomaterials researcher, was the keynote speaker, and spoke about her profession and her journey to getting there. Perepezko said her passion for engineering came from her father who was an engineer. “I always wanted to know how things worked,” Perepezko said. She received a bachelor of science degree in materials science and metallurgical engineering from Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, and a masters of science degree in biomedical engineering-orthopaedic biomechanics degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Throughout her career she worked at Los Alamos National Laboratories as well as several university research laboratories on subjects ranging from shape memory to bone and cartilage biomedics. After completing her master’s degree, she worked at La Mascota Pediatric Hospital, Managua, Nicaragua, with Engineering World Health. “I repaired and installed hospital equipment as well as providing bilingual instruction on maintenance and repair of the equipment to the hospital staff,” Perepezko said. She then worked at the Cleveland Functional Electrical Stimulation Center in the Stroke Research Group as a clinical research engineer investigating robotic rehabilitation therapeutic technologies. She currently is a research scientist at Biomet Zimmer. Perepezko gave advice on young people taking charge of preparing themselves for their future careers. “Find something your passionate about and start looking at various careers and people who can connect you to those careers,” Perepezko said. She also advised to find a university with a reputable program in the field of interest, and volunteer and job shadow. Students said they enjoyed learning about career opportunities. Sydney Wideman, Warsaw Community High School sophomore, said she is interested in studying pediatric nursing. “I learned skills like the importance of talking to colleges,” Wideman said. Ariel Jeffords, Wawasee High School sophomore, said she wants to be an intensive care nurse. “Today has helped me learn about the importance of college,” Jeffords said.
