Brian Schroll, a teacher at Franklin Central High School, plans to establish a Women in Construction Club.
Here is an excerpt from Brian on what inspired him to initiate this club:
I have always looked at teaching with an assembly-line – -business mindset. Henry Ford always pushed to get the best possible product down the line as quickly and efficiently as possible. In today’s educational process we as teachers don’t get much time with our students. Some students are in our construction classes simply to get a taste of what the construction industry is. While others know they want a career in construction.
As a teacher of 25-plus years, I always want my students to get a real grasp of what the construction industry is and what it can do for them in terms of their career aspirations whenever they take one of my classes. Instead of simply educating them I look at it as I am a salesman of opportunity in the construction industry.
As I began seeking out ideas, curriculum, and industry partners to make the best possible construction pathway at FCHS, I kept running into strong, educated women in construction positions of leadership. I wanted to utilize these female voices to help me reach my female construction students. I couldn’t think of a better way to get my girls an opportunity to hear directly from these women in the industry than to get them together.
The idea of a Women in Construction Club was something I didn’t think would go far at first. I sent an email out to all of the female students in every one of our construction pathway classes asking if they would be interested in a Women in Construction Club. And I waited. I waited for about a minute before I began getting responses to the email with several “Count Me IN!” type answers. I even had a female student in my class who the moment she got the email made a beeline for my desk and her actual response was “HELL YES COUNT ME IN!”
With my girls on board, I began reaching out to these strong women I have met over the past years and asked if they would be interested in coming in to talk to my girls for a Women in Construction Club at Franklin Central High School. Every single person I emailed responded with a YES!
My part as a club sponsor has been relatively easy. I provide the room and organize the guests coming in to talk. These outstanding women take it from there and have, I believe, had some good discussions. We have talked about internships, educational directions, and workforce entry, and they even got to fly a drone!
We have had anywhere from 5 to 11 girls showing up on a regular basis, and we are just getting started. The construction girls I originally invited have begun asking if they could invite girls who are not in the construction classes. Absolutely!
So far we have had the privilege of these great women in construction come to talk to the club. We plan to bring in many more.
Jaymie Hunckler – Asphalt Indiana
Elizabeth Pastuszka – APAI
Kirsten Fowler – APAI
Ashly Rieman – Milestone
Binita Pokharel – Superior
Bonnie Bernitt – SME