Leigha Taylor doesn’t mind getting her hands dirty.
Taylor, 17, has spent the past semester travelling from 100 Mile House to Williams Lake to study heavy-duty mechanics at Thompson Rivers University. Her work paid off as last week when she received $2,000 as part of a Women in Trades Award from David Corbett, coordinator of School District 27’s career programs.
She plans to use the money to buy herself a Milwaukee Impact wrench, one of the best tools of its kind on the market, as she pursues her Heavy-Duty Mechanical Foundation certificate. She added she was grateful to Corbett for nominating her, noting she is enjoying her classes.
“The boys are really nice and I don’t feel excluded, which is awesome,” she said. “You don’t see many girls go into heavy-duty mechanics so I was like ‘why not?’ I definitely think more girls should go into trades because even though it’s a man-dominated industry, I’m very accepted and they don’t baby me.”
Although she isn’t currently attending PSO, Taylor encourages other young women, regardless of gender, to consider going into the trades through one of SD27’s career programs.
“Instead of taking your Grade 12 at the high school you take it at TRU and get a bunch of credits for it.”
patrick.davies@100milefreepress.net
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