- So, Candy, that must be rewarding for your role on the board at Johnson.

And, of course, Dr. Williams, I know there was a lot of recognition for you of Alyssa and how great of a student that she is and has been.

Amazing to see what steps she's taking in her career.

Candy, I wanted to ask you, for a young woman like Alyssa taking that first step into industry, from your perspective in a company, what kind of things are being done either at your construction firm or others in industry to recruit, to attract, to position those places as a place, like, where someone like Alyssa could see themselves?

- Right, right.

So, in my role, I get to do a lot of community-related events and business type of events.

And the company I work for, L.R.

Construction, is super about promoting that, sending me to career fairs and industry-related events.

And there's different women business associations to expand upon.

And through that, I'm actually on several boards.

A lot of community boards, business boards.

And so, yeah, I think, you know, like, I remember, like, two years ago, I went to a high school, or a middle school rather, to Kellyn's point about that's where the careers are, the women are, you know, thinking about what they would like to do, or the young ladies.

And so I took in, you know, we built spaghetti towers and this and that, and they loved it, you know?

So that's...

I think sometimes I forget because I've been in the industry so long where all of that excitement came from me.

Sometimes, you know, what I...

Hearing Alyssa's story brought back so many memories of how I grew.

You know, when I was at Johnson, I was nominated to the student government.

I was the president of the student government.

So, there were so many opportunities sometimes I think I forget about because as I've, you know, moved forward in my career, there are so many that I think I just have lost focus of where it all started for me.

So... - So, Ellyn, what kind of programs in education, what kind of programs at Penn College do that kind of outreach and help to, maybe help women in the college find their first steps into a career?

What does that look like for you?

- We definitely have the middle school.

We have middle school summer camps, as you mentioned.

We have things that we do throughout the year.

We do SkillsUSA.

We just finished with that recently.

So there's a lot of opportunity.

We have a lot of contractual relationships with two-year programs.

So if you have an associate's degree and you want to come into a bachelor's program and your school doesn't necessarily have that, you can transfer into the college.

And we want to make sure that the middle school and high school students understand that.

We also have a lot of classes that our faculty sort of co-teach with high school.

So we provide the curriculum and we oversee, sort of mentor, help grade the assignments, but they're still being taught in their high school from their high school instructor.

And that's a seamless transition that then they get college credit while they're in high school from our programs.

- Really get a jumpstart on that college career.

- And that's really across the board.

So, all of our programs.

One more thing I would like to say is that in engineering technologies, which is, you know, fairly male-dominated, as you can imagine, our dean is a male and every assistant dean is a female.

So, just having to- - Oh, kudos to you guys.

- Yeah, just having that person in that chair talking to a prospective student or a prospective parent that had a background similar and is a woman, I think, says a lot.

- Let's talk about role models then, mentors.

Can you expand on that, the importance of having someone who's a mentor who sees something in you or that you see yourself growing into that kind of position?

- Yeah, mentorship is absolutely critical.

In fact, my dissertation topic was, mentorship is a knowledge management system for the built environment or construction.

So it was really looking at mentorship and how mentorship works and why it works and when it works.

And it is a critical element no matter where you are in your career.

And most of it happens sort of when you're not expecting it.

It's not necessarily when you have that meeting and you're sitting there and talking to somebody.

It's much more ephemeral, much more in the moment.

And I think that, you know, having somebody to look to that is there helping you is the key.

And that's the nice thing about what's happened over the last 50 years or so.

We do have women from, you know, starting out all the way through the C-suite in the industries.

All of the industries have that person that is a leadership.

- Dr. Williams, more about mentorship and what you see, how critical that is for you and for your students.

- Absolutely.

I completely agree with what Dr. Lester said about the mentorship piece and how critical it is.

We started on our campus a women in industry initiative to help with that mentorship and seeing that representation in the building trade area so that more females would feel comfortable going into those fields because they had someone to talk to or troubleshoot with and collaborate with.

It's not just normal networking of, "Here's my business card.

Let's keep in touch."

It's more like, "I'm in a situation.

I need someone to reach out to and have a conversation about."

I need that informal mentorship.

It's not, "Let's meet on a Tuesday and have coffee."

It's, "Let me reach out to you.

I'm having a concern.

I just need to bounce some ideas off you.

I need a little support."

Or "Should I pivot?"

or "What should be my next steps in my career?"

"Where do you see me going?"

So it's nice that the girls and the women have that ability to have that conversation.

It's anywhere from the recent alum to, again, C-suite individuals that can come and have conversations with these individuals to support them.

- And as you said, it goes far beyond just the technical skill or a classroom topic.

It's much more holistic about the person.

- Yeah, anything that they're...

I mean, we're moms.

How do you balance work-life situations?

How do you handle childcare?

How do you handle being on boards and active in community, but juggling your work responsibilities?

It's a lot more than just the technical skills and just being the only female potentially on your floor.

So it's nice to have that supportive network.

And honestly, hearing from other people's stories, not just to validate what you're going through, but to, you know, learn the lessons learned from them and how you navigated the world of business and technology.

- You've had a chance to be involved as a mentor now.

What's that like for you?

What does that mean for you to be able to share?

- Right, yeah.

Absolutely, I do.

And you know what?

To Kellyn, or Dr. Kellyn's point, so I...

So Dr. Katie, who is the president and CEO of Johnson College, you know...

So talking about people seeing things in you you don't see in yourself.

She had given me the opportunity to do a commencement speech for the college.

And that is something I never saw me doing as the child that was wrapped around my mom's leg you know, till I was eight.

So... And I forced myself, my initial decision, or my initial reaction rather, was shocked.

And then I was like, "I have to do this."

I need to push through this very uncomfortable position and zone so that I can get to my, you know, greater self.

And I'm so glad that I've had that opportunity.

- And it's good that they see it because then the students see why public speaking is so important in college.

- Exactly.

- And you never know where your career is gonna take you.

You might be on stage giving a commencement speech somewhere, so- - Exactly.

- Absolutely.

- Yeah.

- Amazing.

So, I think Dr. Williams, let's close with you.

Final note, advice for a young woman with interest.

So, Candy was in middle school shop class.

What can they do to keep on going and find success in a career like this?

- I actually liked your students request, is that, don't be afraid to ask for help.

Don't be afraid to ask for advice.

Don't be afraid to reach out to us.

We're here to support you.

We're not these people in ivory towers that aren't, you know, approachable.

We wanna help you succeed.

And if you have a career path or you see yourself in some kind of position, we wanna help you get there.

So just reach out and contact us.

We're here to support you.

- Being able to reach out to a teacher, a mentor.

So critical.

Thank you for being that person.

Likewise, thank you each for being part of the program tonight and sharing your expertise, your knowledge, your perspective, and hopefully your inspiration for women to pursue careers in the skilled trades.

And thank you to our viewers for joining us.

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