MAINE, USA — Registration is open for Totally Trades, a series of virtual sessions happening this spring. The series is designed to encourage girls and young women to consider careers traditionally dominated by men.
The online sessions are being offered by the nonprofit New Ventures Maine. The classes are available to girls in grades 8 to 12 who may be considering careers in the featured sectors.
Eleven sessions are being offered at no cost to participants. Each video is 15 minutes long and prerecorded. Some job fields being highlighted in the series include criminal justice, carpentry, forestry, software engineering, and solar installation.
Suzanne Senechal-Jandreau is the workforce development manager at New Ventures Maine. She said it's important for girls and young women to have as many career options available to them as possible, especially ones they may not think about pursuing because they’re considered "nontraditional" – careers in which women are underrepresented.
“We introduce [girls] to some information about the career and some wage information, some job growth information, what’s happening with education and training in Maine related to that career, and then we try to provide some videos with women who are working in the trades or girls who are taking career and technical education programs in those career areas,” Senechal-Jandreau told NEWS CENTER Maine.
The sessions are available between April 11 and May 31. You can register for the classes at totallytradesmaine.org.