Local girls STeP toward industrial careers

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Local girls STeP toward industrial careers

Posted Monday, July 21, 2008

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"Kids won't know what possibilities are out there waiting for them if we don't open the doors and show them," said Gemi Powell, Coordinator of Community Education at Brazosport College.

Through a recent weeklong Science and Technology Preview (STeP), the college offered girls who are in high school or newly graduated the opportunity to see how women are making an impact in the industrial workforce.

Funded through a National Science Grant from the Gulf Coast Process Technology Alliance, the STeP program exposes 17- and 18-year old girls to non-traditional careers in the Process Technology field. Women who are currently working in industry came from Dow, BASF, Chevron-Phillips and Conoco-Phillips to teach the sessions each day.

The sessions, offered at no cost to the participants, give the girls information on the types of jobs that are available, how much money they can potentially make, what kind of education is needed, and what it is like to work in a male-dominated industry. Hands-on activities and a plant tour are also part of the program.

"It's exciting when these girls realize that there are ways for them to break out and make it on their own, that they can make a great living at something they may not even have considered before now," said Powell. "Our chemical industries in this area have an expanding need for these girls, so the opportunities are definitely there for them."

The 14 young women who participated in this summer's STeP program represented nearly every area school district. Some will pursue dual and concurrent enrollment at Brazosport College this coming school year as a way to actively pursue a career in a field they discovered through the STeP program.

Brazosport College offers the STeP program each summer to girls, but hopes to expand it to a program for young men of the same age. This was the fifth year it has been offered at the college. For information about this and other Community Education programs visit
www.brazosport.edu/ce or call 979-230-3600.