Women Showcase Trades

A reporter for The Herald joined us for Women Can Do, our annual one-day career exploration conference for high school girls and gender-expansive students. At the one-day conference 100+ Vermont employers offer hands-on activities for students to explore. 

The Herald | October 17, 2024

By: Isabel Dreher

Last Thursday was one of the coldest days of fall so far. But that didn’t stop hundreds of students, teachers, workers, and employers from around the state from gathering indoors and outdoors at Vermont State University’s Randolph Center campus for the Women Can Do conference.

The conference, which celebrated its 25th year, is put on by Vermont Works for Women, a Winooski-based nonprofit. Groups of students rotated through sections of activities and expositions throughout the day, exploring hands-on demonstrations having to do with everything from operating an excavator to putting a patient on a ventilator.

Maisie Howard, the director of communications at Vermont Works for Women, said that the conference is one of their signature programs each year.

“The object of the day is to introduce high school-aged women and gender expansive youth to career paths that are not traditional for their gender. So that could be anything from the skilled trades to STEM careers in technology, engineering, science, et cetera,” she said.

Gretchen Baker, a sales representative at United Construction and Forestry, spent the day guiding attendees in using an excavator to stack tires, as a part of the outdoor expo. (Herald / Isabel Dreher)

The day involved two action expos, one indoors and one outdoors. There was also another area with displays for students to explore. The mood throughout each area was upbeat, with students excited to learn and employers excited to share their work.

“It’s a really diverse group of employers, which is really nice for us to be able to show that there’s lots and lots of things that you can do after high school,” Howard said.

Kara Hall, the special needs coordinator at Hartford Area Career and Technology Center, an offshoot of Hartford High School, brought students and expressed her passion surrounding the day.

“This is empowering,” she said. “Gender equity in tech centers around Vermont continues to be an area of growth opportunities. I think this is an opportunity to really celebrate female students.”

Eva Cosoroaba is a faculty member at UVM’s department of Electrical and Biomedical Engineering. She said that in her field, the variety in types of issues to be solved requires a similarly wide range of perspectives to find the best solutions.

Savannah Ferreira demonstrates how to peel bark from ash trees to search for signs of emerald ash borer. (Herald / Isabel Dreher)

“In my mind, we need a diverse pool of engineers to identify and fix those problems,” she said. “We just [want] to make sure we’re inviting. Engineering has a place for everyone.”

Cosoroaba was joined by several UVM students at a table in the indoor expo portion of the conference. They spent the day talking to conference attendees and encouraging anyone who was interested to consider the UVM biomedical and engineering department.

One attraction in the outdoor expo was a station set up by the state’s Forest, Parks, and Recreation Department.

Savannah Ferreira, a forest health specialist, taught students how to inspect trees for emerald ash borer, an insect native to Asia that lays its eggs in ash trees, leaving larvae to feed on the inside of the tree. Ferreira also led demonstrations in coring trees and dating them based on their rings.

Ferreira believes that Vermont has proportionally more women working in forest health than other states, but still feels passionate about sharing her work with young women.

“Historically, this position is male-dominated. This is a great opportunity to show that there are women in forest health,” she said. “You can’t be what you cant see.”

After the conclusion of the conference, Howard reflected on the event.

“We were really happy with how the conference turned out this year,” she said. “I think the high schoolers there were really engaged. It was great to see that they were really diving right into all of the activities we had to offer, trying everything and really getting a sense of all of the different things that they could potentially do with their future careers.”

According to Howard, there were several crowd favorites at this year’s conference.

One was a new addition, the tree climbing station, where students could strap into harnesses and try their hand at climbing. Another was a popular station from years past, the welding booth. That station always has a line of students waiting to try it out, she said. This year the conference included three welding booths to accommodate the activity’s popularity.

Planning for next year’s event will begin in early 2025, and the date, which is always in alignment with VSU’s October break, will be announced shortly after.

At the end of the day, attendees of the conference were asked to fill out a survey to give feedback on the event. The responses take some time to sort through, Howard said, but from year to year, reactions tend to be very positive.

“The feedback that we often get is ‘I wish the day could be longer,’ which we wish too, but there’s just the constraints of it being a field trip,” she said. “I think universally, everyone was really happy.”