THUNDER BAY – Griffenn Niittynen’s passion for cars began in Grade 8.
Now the St. Ignatius High School student is in Grade 12 and has already received early acceptance to Confederation College’s heavy tech automotive program and she got a sneak peek at what an education in the trades will be like during the college’s Jill of All Trades event on Wednesday.
The initiative saw more than 100 female high school students participate in a day of workshops on various trades from carpentry and automotive to electrical engineering and welding.
Niittynen was enjoying the day and seeing girls from different schools looking at careers in typically male-dominated trades.
“I think it’s really great everyone is coming together to work as a team and look at careers,” she said.
Many of the workshops were run by alumni and female mentors working in the various trades.
“I feel like we're definitely adapting and we're definitely progressing whether it's getting more women into trades or getting more young people into trades, even just of any gender,” Niittynen noted. “I think it's great seeing younger people like teenagers and early 20s coming into the trades and working towards apprenticeships or working towards their graduates . . . and getting a diploma here at Confederation College.”
Jessy Kantola was one of those mentors on Wednesday. She first took the carpentry and renovation program at the college and then transitioned into the civil engineer technician program.
Kantola now works as architectural technician and was working as a mentor in the carpentry workshop where students had the chance to build birdhouses.
From a business perspective, Kantola said she’s heard women have a different way of thinking in regards to trades.
“They come in with some focus, ambition, safety protocols... and just a little more attention to detail,” she said. “I think it just gives women a whole different avenue and opportunity to do something different and something they may not have considered for a career.”
