Massachusetts Girls in Trades
Announces Second Annual Conference and Career Fairs -- March 2 in Dorchester and
April 13 in Holyoke
LEXINGTON – Building on its initial successes, the Massachusetts Girls
in Trades organization is planning its Second Annual Conference and Career Fair
for hundreds of female high school students in Massachusetts. In fact, it’s planning two.
An Eastern Massachusetts conference – open to high school students
enrolled in vocational technical education programs – will be held on March 2
at the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) Local 103 in
Dorchester. A Western Massachusetts
conference will be held on April 13 at the William J. Dean Technical High
School in Holyoke.
Massachusetts Girls in Trades was
established to encourage young females to consider pursuing high-wage,
high-demand careers in the construction trades.
The group was formed in December of 2015 at a meeting attended by
representatives of Wynn Boston Harbor, Minuteman High School, the New England Regional
Council of Carpenters, Sheet Metal Workers Local 17, Building Pathways, the
Massachusetts Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, and SkillsUSA
Massachusetts.
“We’re making progress but we know there’s
still plenty of work to do,” said Elizabeth Skidmore, one of the organization’s
founding members and Business Representative for the New England Regional
Council of Carpenters. “We need to send
out a positive message that young women can have great careers in the building
trades.”
The first-ever Massachusetts Girls in
Trades Conference and Career Fair, held in Dorchester last year, attracted more
than 400 people, including over 300 students and teachers. Students from vocational-technical programs
at 18 high schools listened to speeches from successful tradeswomen, attended
workshops about getting into the trades, and met with representatives from
unions, contractors, and apprenticeship programs.
The March 2 event this year in Dorchester will
run from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., with doors opening at 9 a.m. for registration. Admission is free. Lunch will be provided. For more information on the Eastern
Massachusetts conference, please contact Maryanne Ham by phone at 781-861-6500,
ext. 7323, or by e-mail at massgirlsintrades@minuteman.org.
This year, Massachusetts Girls in Trades added a second conference
to better accommodate vocational high school students living in Western
Massachusetts. That event will be held
on April 13 at the William J. Dean Technical High School on 1045 Main Street in
Holyoke. For more information on the
Western Massachusetts conference, please contact Lisa Clauson by phone at
413-206-5571 or by e-mail at lclauson@neclmp.org.
Vocational students interested in registering for either conference
should contact their teacher, principal, or vocational director.
Schools
are invited to attend either or both of the events, regardless of
geography.
Principal
sponsors of this year’s event in Eastern Massachusetts will be Wynn Boston
Harbor, the Massachusetts Building Trades Council AFL-CIO, Boston Metropolitan
District Building Trades Council, IBEW Local 103, and Gilbane Building Company.
MGM Springfield
will be a principal sponsor for the Western Massachusetts conference.
The
Massachusetts Girls in Trades board includes representatives from developers
and contractors including Wynn Boston Harbor, Suffolk Construction, Skanska USA
Building; Turner Construction, Liberty Construction Services, and Gilbane
Building Company; union groups such as IBEW Local 103, Local 103 Joint
Apprenticeship Training Committee of Greater Boston, the Massachusetts Building
Trades Council, Boston Metropolitan District Building Trades Council, New
England Regional Council of Carpenters, Building Trades Training Directors
Association of Massachusetts, and the Boston Chapter of the National Electrical
Contractors Association; organizations such as the Building Pathways Pre-Apprenticeship
Program and the Policy Group on Tradeswomen’s Issues; the Massachusetts
Department of Elementary and Secondary Education; Massachusetts Department of
Transportation Office of Diversity and Civil Rights; SkillsUSA Massachusetts;
Massachusetts Association of Vocational Administrators (MAVA) CTE Directors
Group; Partnerships for a Skilled Workforce, Inc.; University of Massachusetts
Building Authority; U.S. Department of Labor/Women’s Bureau; the newly formed
Equity in the Trades Student Leadership Council; WGBH TV; and career and
technical high schools including Madison Park Technical Vocational High School, Southeastern Regional Vocational-Technical High
School, and Minuteman High School.
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