Green Bay welding classes spark interest for girls

GREEN BAY - Just 12 years old, Ivy Durant isn’t in a rush to make a decision on a career path to take when she gets older.

The seventh-grader at Franklin Middle School has been tossing around a few ideas, however.

“At first, I wanted to be a geologist,” she said. “Then, I wanted to be an astrophysicist, and then I wanted to be an astronomer, and then I wanted to be a geologist again.”

Add welder to the list. Make that atop the list after Ivy participated with a few other adolescent girls — and their mothers — in a welding workshop the last two weeks.

The Green Bay School District is hosting the free “This Girl Can” workshops this month at West High School as a way to turn girls on to nontraditional jobs for women in industries such as engineering and manufacturing.

“After this, yes,” said Ivy, when asked whether she can see herself pursuing welding as a future occupation.

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The reply elicited a big smile from her mother, Julia Durant, who worked alongside Ivy as participants sculpted a metal lawn ornament during the workshop sessions in the Bay Link Manufacturing machine shop at West.

“I don’t think people know what welding is until you do it. It seems scary, but this is a cool experience,” Julia said.

Julia and her daughter looked forward to putting the finishing touches on the decorative flower by soldering on leaves and a long stem during the final class of the school district’s initial workshop, which ended Tuesday night.

Another three-session workshop starts April 18. For that one, girls will create the lawn ornament with the help of a male family member or mentor.

“They get to understand kind of the tools of the trade,” Lori Peacock said about the girls in the workshops.

Peacock is the director of college, career and community readiness for the school district, which is holding the program for the first time after receiving a $5,000 grant from the Wisconsin Department of Public Instruction.

School tech program lacks girls

The DPI awarded grants this school year to school districts that focus programs on empowering under-represented students in occupations in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

“Try to get them interested in the manufacturing careers at an early age, that when they get to high school they get into these classes because it is such an excellent career option,” said Andy Belongia, the coordinator of the on-site Bay Link Manufacturing program for the school district.

The 3-year-old learning lab gives select students in the district hands-on education in manufacturing. They also acquire real-world skills by fulfilling orders for local companies in industrial welding, machine fabrication and metals.

Belongia noted a scarcity of girls in the program, which is sponsored by Northeast Wisconsin Technical College and the NEW Manufacturing Alliance. His first group included two girls, but he’s had no female students the last two years.

“Even if we can get a couple more in the tech-ed classes and interested in manufacturing, that would be a big plus,” Belongia said.

Workshop appeals to participants

Though the turnout was small, Belongia was encouraged by the enthusiasm and craftsmanship of the five students who took part in at least one of the recent “This Girl Can” workshop sessions.

And, the girls’ moms had just as much fun as sparks flew and crackled from the friction and fusion of hot metal on the shop tables.

“I never welded before, and I’m like, ‘Well, that’s kind of cool. Let’s see if she likes it. We’ll make the yard project together, and we’ll get some experience,’” said Stacy Langston, who attended with her daughter, Ciera, a freshman at Preble High School.

Ciera, who took a woodworking class in middle school and isn’t opposed to working a trade job someday, enjoyed the chance to get creative with her hands.

Ditto for Olivia Waubanascum, a seventh-grader at Franklin Middle School.

Sandy Waubanascum shouted through her helmet, “Awesome! I like it. Great job!” as her daughter made a circle of beads in the center of the flower.

“Can I keep going?” Olivia shouted excitedly amid the sizzling noise.

Career possibilities aplenty

Olivia doesn’t have aspirations to become a welder, but getting involved in STEM-oriented classes and activities at a young age could be useful in pursuing her dream job: astrophysicist.

“I want to go to Mars,” she said about exploring space science as a possible career track.

Nicki Buboltz, a structural engineer with Foth in De Pere urged Olivia and the other girls in the “This Girl Can” workshop to follow their dreams, regardless of whether their interests may lie in occupations dominated by men.

“Don’t let anybody tell you what you should do,” Buboltz said.

Despite being outnumbered by the guys in her college classes and in the workplace, Buboltz has worked more than 25 years as a structural engineer.

“There was such a shortage of women in these types of fields — engineering, just trade fields in general,” Buboltz said of her college days in the late 1980s and early ‘90s.

The need isn’t much different today.

“There’s hundreds and hundreds of scholarships out there for women in these types of trades,” Buboltz said.

Her advice to ambitious young girls?

“I would say take advantage of everything that high school has to offer in the science and math fields if that’s what you’re interested in. And, the tech-ed classes, too,” she said. “Take those classes. You may be the only girl, but I did. I think I was one of the only girls in my drafting class in high school, and I took woodworking, too. I like to do those things, and I wasn’t afraid to do it.”

Neither is Kassie Sobiesczyk, who also shared her story during the workshop.

The 33-year-old single mother of three from Green Bay returned to school last year. She will graduate next month after completing a welding program at NWTC, the only woman in her class of more than 15 students.

“It’s been one of the best decisions I made,” she said.

She's now eyeing an engineering degree.

“I like to build stuff,” she said. “I don’t see myself sitting behind a desk. I see myself making stuff.”

tmcmaho2@gannett.com and follow him on Twitter @ToddMcMahon23

If you go

What: “This Girl Can” welding workshops for girls in middle school and early high school. Participants will work on a lawn art project with a male helper (father, grandfather, older brother, another family member, mentor).

When: 6-8 p.m., April 18, 20 and 25.

Where: Bay Link Manufacturing lab at West High School, 966 Shawano Ave., Green Bay.

Cost: Free. Register in advance by calling (920) 448-2156.