Category: News

Okanagan College Vernon hosted its first Jill of All Trades day

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Read the full Vernon Morning Star article.

North Okanagan high school girls rolled up their sleeves for a preview of the trades programs awaiting them at Okanagan College’s Vernon campus. 

According to the Canadian Apprenticeship Forum’s National Strategy for Supporting Women in the Trades, just 4.5 per cent of students in apprenticeship programs in construction, manufacturing and transportation trades from 2014 to 2018 were female. The goal put forward by the forum is to increase that number to 15 per cent by 2030. 

To that end, Okanagan College Vernon hosted its first Jill of all Trades training day on Friday, Nov. 22, a chance for female students to experience trades programs before they graduate from high school and embark on their post-secondary education….

Read the full Vernon Morning Star article.

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Hamilton-area teen girls exploring trades at Mohawk College

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Read the full Hamilton Spectator article.

As teenage girls practice welding techniques on simulators, sparks and imperfections that mimic real life are displayed on the screen above them. In other Mohawk College classrooms, they plug copper pipes into fittings to make cellphone stands and bend sheet metal into a neat rectangular box.

A growing number of women are choosing to work in male-dominated trades, and these Hamilton-area high school students could be part of the next generation.

About 170 students in grades 9 through 12 from schools in Hamilton, Halton, Niagara and Brant, Haldimand and Norfolk counties got to explore about a dozen hands-on college programs Wednesday for the annual “Jill of All Trades,” a daylong event hosted by institutions across Canada and the U.S., including Mohawk…

Read the full Hamilton Spectator article.

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Cambrian College hosts annual Jill of All Trades event on campus

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Read the full Education News Canada article.

In almost every region in Canada, there is an urgent need for more workers to fill well-paying positions in skilled trades and engineering technology.

That message was given loud and clear to female high school students today at the annual Jill of All Trades event held at Cambrian College.

Industry leaders, local sponsors, staff, and faculty from Cambrian College pulled out all the stops to showcase everything the skilled trades and engineering technology sectors have to offer young women considering their next steps after high school.

200 students from seven local high schools as well as from the Serpent River First Nation and the Nipissing/Parry Sound Catholic District School Board, took part in Jill of All Trades this year.

The students experienced trades and technology careers first-hand by taking part in hands-on activities and workshops in a number of Cambrian’s labs.

“Every year this event gets bigger and better,” says Renee Scott, Cambrian’s Director of Marketing, Recruitment, and Student Success. “This event is a win for everyone involved. Female students get an opportunity to explore good careers they may not have considered otherwise, and they are meeting women in the trades who can encourage and motivate them. Employers are already recruiting the next generation of talented employees, particularly young women. We also get to show the quality of the trades and engineering technology programs we have to offer, plus our campus experience.”

Cambrian College and select sponsors awarded seven $1,000 scholarships and two $500 scholarships to students who plan on pursuing careers in trades and engineering technology at Cambrian College.

…Read the full Education News Canada article.

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Confederation College once again hosts Jill of All Trades Event

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Read the full CBC News article by Nicky Shaw.

College works to empower the next generation of skilled female professionals in Northwestern Ontario

Hundreds of female high school students got their hands dirty in Confederation College’s Tec Hub for a Jill of All Trades event in Thunder Bay, Ont. this Wednesday. 

They were there for a one-day event encouraging more women to go into the skilled trades by providing some hands-on experience. It is part of a larger nation-wide initiative to empower young women.  

Students participated first-hand in three different workshops in different sectors of the trades. There were also mentorship sessions led by industry leaders and alumni and they were able to look at potential careers at a job fair.

Molly Forneri, a grade 12 student from Westgate High School, took part in the event because she’s looking into the trades for the future. She said she ‘really loves welding and really wanted to try it out.’

….Read the full CBC News article by Nicky Shaw.

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Cambrian grad’s message to young women in trades: You can do it

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Read the full Northern Ontario Business news article by Len Gillis.

Powerline tech’s message to young women in trades: You can do it

Lauren Schandlen addressed high schoolers during Cambrian College’s annual Jill of All Trades event.

More than 200 young women from across Greater Sudbury were at Cambrian College on Oct. 24 to hear stories of how more and more women are finding success in the industrial trades.

But for all the successes, there was also a story of overcoming a challenge.

One of the speakers was Cambrian graduate (2017), Lauren Schandlen, who is now a Red Seal powerline technician for Ontario Hydro. She has worked on hydro line repair jobs across Ontario, which included dangling from a helicopter to install hydro poles in remote locations.

Schandlen went to high school in Bracebridge and now lives in Orillia.

Most recently, Schandlen returned from working in Georgia and Florida, helping to repair hydro lines damaged by hurricanes there.

She also told a harrowing story of working on a frozen, icy hydro tower near Toronto a few years back.

Schandlen said she had climbed about a third of the way up, five storeys high, when she realized she could not reach up to the next spar. Schandlen said it was a terrible moment for her at the time.

“It was February, icy and cold. I made so many excuses in my head of why I couldn’t do it. I’m not strong enough, I’m too short, I’m tired, I can’t do it. As I sat there, 50 feet in the air, everyone else on my climbing crew was already at the tower. I looked down at the guys on the ground and started to tear up behind my tinted safety glasses,” she said… Read the rest of the Northern Ontario Business news article by Len Gillis.

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Owens Community College encourages women to explore skilled trades

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Read the full The Blade news article by James Trumm.

When CK Kramer talked with high school friends about going into the trades after graduation, they weren’t exactly encouraging.

“That doesn’t sound like a ‘you’ thing,” one of them said.

“My friends said it was a male-dominated profession and wondered where I would fit in,” young Kramer said. “They were also worried about me being in a toxic work environment. And I accepted that at first.”

But young Kramer’s friends are now more supportive as their classmate weighs the question of what path to take after graduation from St. Ursula Academy in May.

“I’m looking into everything,” young Kramer said. “I’m really interested now in operating drilling machinery.”

CK’s interest in the trades got a boost at the second annual Jill of All Trades event at Owens Community College on Thursday. The program seeks to provide young women in high school with hands-on experience in a variety of skilled trades, including advanced manufacturing, transportation, machining, robotics, diesel tech, auto repair, welding, crane rigging, pipefitting, electrical work, and other trades.

Founded in Canada in 2014 by Rosie Hessian, Jill of All Trades seeks to bring down the barriers that have kept women out of the skilled trades. It stresses hands-on experiences, said Ms. Hessian, the director and chairman of the school of interdisciplinary studies at Conestoga College in Kitchener, Ont.

By the end of this year, Ms. Hessian projects over 1,800 students will have participated in the program that promotes awareness of, experience with, and opportunities in the trades.

“There are barriers to the trades for women,” she said. “Many of them don’t have the experience or confidence to try to get in the door. But we want to stress to them that good opportunities are available.”

A variety of companies were present at the event to discuss those opportunities in detail, including Rudolph Libbe Group, The Andersons, First Solar, Hancock Steel, Dunbar, Advanced Technologies Consultants, the Mechanical Contractors Association of Northwest Ohio, and Buckeye Broadband.

Jamie Hooven and Bailey Phommalee work for Dunbar, a mechanical services specialty contractor.

“We’re hoping to get women interested in STEM and the trades in general,” Ms. Hooven said. “The biggest obstacle is that these are male-dominated professions.”

Ms. Phommalee is a pipefitter apprentice who has worked for four years with Dunbar and Local 50 of the United Association of Journeymen and Apprentices of the Plumbing and Pipefitting Industry. Her apprenticeship has one more year to go.

“Young people don’t see the trades represented in their schools,” she said, “but there are a lot of opportunities in this area. And we need young workers to pay the retirement costs of the older generation.”

“The most common question we get is how much money we make,” Ms. Phommalee said, “and the answer is about $50 an hour.”

Another exhibitor was Advanced Technologies Consultants, whose booth was manned by Chad Whited, the company’s director for business development.

“We like showcasing electrical equipment, automation, robotics, and augmented reality at these events,” he said. “We let the students play with the robotics and augmented reality stuff. We’re not really here to recruit employees for us, though. We’re here to build a bigger pipeline of people coming into these fields.”

Mr. Whited also talks to students about the stigma some people attach to the trades and jobs in the manufacturing sector… Read the full The Blade news article by James Trumm.

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Giving girls a chance to try out the skilled trades – CTV News

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Read the full CTV News Kitchener story by Ashley Bacon.

Hundreds of high school students visited Conestoga College’s Cambridge campus on Wednesday for ‘Jill of all Trades,’ a unique event that aims to inspire the next generation of female trades workers.

Skills ranging from welding to carpentry were on display for the nearly 300 young attendees.

Director Rosie Hessian said there’s a reason the event has grown and become more popular over the last decade.

“There are hands-on experiences in the shops,” she explained. “They get in there, they are doing something, making something, and they are so proud of that.”

“It’s really exciting to see all the opportunities that there are for women out there,” Marlowe, a Grade 11 student, said.

“I think I was more into the mechanics but I really like how it’s empowering women on all the trades,” added Ciara, another Grade 11 student.

“They told us about the different opportunities we could get and that there’s lots of benefits of working in trades,” Grade 12 student Bella said.

Hannah Passila made her second appearance at ‘Jill of all Trades,’ just one day before she moves to Kapuskasing to begin a plumbing apprenticeship.

She was hoping to inspire other young girls.

“I think the mentors are great, we have learned a lot from them and hopefully I can teach somebody today as well,” Passila said.

Back in 2014, 120 girls attended the inaugural event. Now, ‘Jill of all Trades’ hosts 18 different programs across the continent every year.

Organizers say this is their biggest year yet. Brandi Ferenc, a HVAC mechanic, has been participating in the event since it started in 2014.She said, when she began her career 20 years ago, she couldn’t even find work clothes that fit her properly. Now she’s seeing a sector shift to accommodate and nurture female workers.

“I go to many women in skilled trades events but nothing like this,” Ferenc said.“To be able to put the tools in their hands and see them come in a little apprehensive, maybe [thinking] I don’t want to do that, and then just watch how empowered they get.”

The hope is that it sparks inspiration for a whole next generation.

“You get dirty, you have fun and never work a job where you’re not having fun,” Passila said.

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Students flock to Cambridge to consider becoming ‘Jill of all Trades’

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Read the full Cambridge Today news article by Joel McGinty.

The skilled trades campus at Conestoga College was packed with employers and students handpicked from around the province to learn more about the trades and finding their place in the workforce.

For the past 10 years, Conestoga College has held the Jill of all Trades (JOAT) event as part of an initiative to get more young women acquainted with the trades and break down barriers in the industry.

Back in 2014, Brenda Gilmore and Rosie Hessian were tasked with creating an event that bridges the gaps in the skilled trades and opens the doors for thousands of young women across the region.

“We started back in 2014 as a response to the school boards asking if we could do something for young women in trades that is hands-on and at the campuses,” said Hessian.

In the early days, JOAT had around 120 girls helping with the event and that has ballooned to nearly 300. This increase in volunteers is a testament to how great these workshops are added Gilmore.

Now set up at the skilled trades campus at 25 Reuter Dr. in Cambridge, the state-of-the-art facility houses some of the newest technology and allows each student to experience what it’s like in each profession.

Hannah Paasila is a grade 12 student from Milton who travelled to the college last year for her first JOAT session. She is now poised to start her apprenticeship next week after completing all of her required classes.

“I was adamant that I was going to be a welder and I was sure I absolutely hated plumbing and no one could convince me otherwise,” said Paasila.

After attending last year’s event, Paasila was exposed to other trades outside of welding and with the hands-on experience, she fell in love with plumbing and is now on the path to a career at 17.

“These programs are so great at giving a glimpse of different trades to young girls especially; it opens your mind to all different options. I was hyper-focused on welding for seven years and it really opened my eyes and showed me something else that I would love to do,” she said.

The confidence and willingness to work that some of these young girls are coming into the programs with is refreshing to Brandi Ferenc, an HVAC mechanic who attended the first JOAT event back in 2014.

“Some of them are ready to go and so motivated like, I don’t even have that much motivation for my job some days, so it is nice to see,” said Ferenc.

The connections and skills are just one part of the puzzle of the event, the representation and seeing people like Ferenc thrive in her field is another aspect that is vital to young women looking to join the industry, added Paasila.

Jessica Barry is another student who attended a JOAT event and has come back to help teach the next generation of young girls and give them a hand in the woodworking shop.

“When I was in high school I had no interest in being in the trades. At my school, trades just weren’t a thing girls go into, but then I found this program and it was one of the best decisions I ever made,” said Barry.

“I love that I can give back and bring in the future and encourage them to do what we did and take that leap.”

Barry is about to graduate from her carpentry program at Conestoga College and start her apprenticeship full-time.

Outside of the carpentry classes and away from the sounds of nail guns and hammers, the main hall was full of employers looking to meet their future employees and apprentices.

Asha Burry is the human resources leader for Owen’s Corning, a building materials manufacturer and seller, she is looking to connect with young women interested in the trades and fill a depleting workforce.

“You look at the skilled trades and there is something like 700,000 tradespeople retiring. We desperately need to fill this void,” said Burry. “Women make up at least 50 per cent of the workforce so we are missing the mark when there are so few girls in the field.”

According to Statistics Canada, women only make up five per cent of all skilled labourers in the country. With events like these, companies like Owen’s Corning look to tap into the well of potential hires at local schools.

“These positions aren’t and shouldn’t be looked at as fallback or second option jobs. The skilled trades pay well and are always going to be needed and right now we need people,” added Burry.

With the growth of the events of the past few years and the rising demand for workers, Gilmore and Hessian are looking to take JOAT nationwide by 2026 and even bring in some partners from the United States.

Already serving over 1,000 students in 2024, Gilmore thinks that thousands more can be brought into the world of skilled trades if they are given the opportunity.

“As this thing keeps on growing we know that we are doing what we can to bring in the next generation,” said Hessian. “We’re creating a movement across North America for young women to choose skilled trades careers and we’re so proud of that.”

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Windsor female high school students given chance to test skills

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Read the full Windsor Star news article by Madeline Mazak

About 60 female high school students from across Windsor-Essex visited St. Clair College Wednesday to learn about life in the skilled trades.

To help inform young women in high school about careers in the skilled trades, St. Clair College hosted the Jill of All Trades event for the first time. 

Throughout the day, students had the chance to test their skills in construction, electrical, motive power, EV, and machining.

“As a high school student, it’s very hard to make a choice,” said St. Clair College’s dean of the school of Skilled Trades, Apprenticeships and Engineering Technologies Lido Zuccato.

“This is presenting the opportunity so that they have an idea of what to choose.”

Jill of All Trades was founded by Conestoga College in 2014 to help increase post-secondary enrolment in non-traditional programs in order to curb Canada’s skilled trades shortage.

Zuccato said female enrolment in the trades programs at St. Clair College “is still low, but it’s growing.”

“I would say from a percentage perspective, it’s up and down. Some trades are more than others. Like our electrical trade, I’d say we’re probably maybe at 10 to 15 per cent, some trades lower.

“The key is that it’s growing.”

He said the most important part of the day was helping students build confidence.

“To me, that is the key,” he said. “Anybody can do these trades.”

Zuccato said students learned how to weld their own tulips, which they were allowed to take home with them at the end of the day. They also tried out some electrical work by building extension cords and connecting wires.

“We’re also exposing them to other things that we have, like our carpentry lab, and our plumbing lab,” he added.

The day began after St. Clair College President Patricia France addressed the group of students.

That was followed by keynote speaker, Emily Chung, who shared her experience owning and operating an an auto repair shop in Markham.

Students from the Catholic, public, and French school boards participated.

Nearly 20 other academic institutions across the country have hosted a similar event.

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BCIT exposes high school girls to a future in skilled trades

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Watch the full Global News story/read the transcript.

Parts of the Canadian economy are still hobbled by a shortage of skilled workers, and women are vastly under-represented in the trades.

The British Columbia Institute of Technology in Burnaby, B.C. is trying to change both by adopting a one-day event that started in Ontario ten years ago and has spread across the country.

The Jill of All Trades program hosted students from thirty-seven B.C. high schools across ten different school districts.

Global’s Sharron Bates reports.

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Enbridge-sponsored JOAT event held at BCIT in Burnaby

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Read the full Enbridge article.

Wearing an all-black ensemble, pearl earrings and high heels, Tylene Swanson’s Facebook profile picture paints a story of a woman who breathes and lives fashion. But that’s only a part of her story.

During her work hours, this soft-spoken, 28-year-old blonde with a captivating smile dons personal protective equipment, steel-toed shoes and a hardhat bearing her name. Swanson proudly serves as a pipeline inspector at Enbridge, ensuring the safe and reliable delivery of natural gas that’s used to heat homes, schools and businesses in the Lower Mainland.

Swanson’s career started in trades a decade ago, after her father introduced her to pipeline work in their hometown of Hardisty, Alberta.

“When I was in Grade 12, I wasn’t entirely sure what I wanted to do. I knew I didn’t want to follow the typical careers for women,” Swanson says. “I ended up working on pipelines with my father, completing my apprenticeship by working on different projects, and then getting my welding certification. Right after welding school, I transitioned into pipeline inspection.”

Swanson is among a small group of female tradeswomen in British Columbia. According to the latest survey by the BC Construction Association, only 4.5% of the province’s 164,000 skilled tradespeople are women.

But Jill of All Trades (JOAT) aims to change that. Since 2014, JOAT has provided hands-on experiences to young women in Grades 9 through 12, introducing them to the possibilities of a career in the trades.

In support of this initiative, Enbridge has partnered with JOAT, donating $125,000 to facilitate the successful delivery of these events. At Enbridge, we strongly believe in a diverse workforce and providing opportunities to women and women-identifying individuals.

On April 4, about 100 female and female-identifying students from the Lower Mainland in BC are joining the BCIT Jill of All Trades all-day event in Burnaby, BC. The event will show participants the multiple opportunities of employment to pursue a career in trades.

“We aim to make skilled trades a viable choice for female high school students who are preparing to make their career decisions,” says Tamara Pongracz, BCIT Trades Access Department Head, who is running the BCIT Jill of All Trades. “BCIT Jill of All Trades offers these students the opportunity to immerse in trades and learn from tradeswomen role models.”

Female students from more than 30 high schools in metro Vancouver, Chilliwack and Hope will get to visit skilled trades stations in areas such as ironworking, sheet metal working and welding, power engineering, plumbing, auto-collision repair, cabinet making, and digital and wireless communications.

They will also get to hear directly from tradeswomen, who will share stories and information about their journey into trades, and the diverse career paths available. Swanson will join this volunteer pool to mentor and inspire young girls.

“Many people wrongly assume the trades industry is a man’s world. But there’s a place for everyone here, and there’s a lot of opportunities. Being in trades is not only empowering, it’s rewarding with lots of opportunities for career growth,” Swanson remarks.

“I never let my career define me, but rather, it has helped me establish the woman I want to be. I’m not sure where I would be today if I decided to take an alternative route, but I am very grateful that this is the path I chose when I was that 18-year-old girl.”

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