HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) — Texas Technical Trades School specializes in construction and provides students with 80% practical and 20% theoretical training in HVAC and electrical. That was a perfect fit for Jesus Figueroa, who just graduated from the program.
“Ever since high school, to be honest, I didn’t really like school. I didn’t want to go to college and I was just sitting in classes where I didn’t want to be there. “Now let’s do something productive with our time,” Figueroa said.
Elvia Quintanilla is the school’s founder and executive director. She said the field is male-dominated, as seen with Hurricane Beryl and recent derechos, but there is room for everyone to participate.
Quintanilla works to encourage women to join the industry by providing scholarships, gas, and even childcare assistance to help students succeed.
“We’ve been working hard to pitch a deal that’s a little bit different because it was a deal that was a little bit boring. You know, it looked very bone-jarring. It’s not. , you can be a refinery supervisor, you can be an oil refinery supervisor.” If you’re in manufacturing, you can be industrial. ”
The school partners with nonprofit organizations such as SER Jobs, an organization that provides social services. The program recently helped welcome its newest class of all women ready to earn their certification.
“It’s important to hire more women because we think very differently than men, and I think we need both perspectives in this field,” Quintanilla said.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 2% of electricians are women. Quintanilla is working to change that. She said that through her own experiences, including growing up in a “chaotic” household, becoming a teenage mother, and going through a divorce, she found the inspiration to not only change her life, but to make a difference. In someone else’s life.
“We manage children, we manage families, and sometimes we manage parents. As a Hispanic in the community, I was afraid to jump into a male-dominated field. But if you really care about what you want to do, if you really believe in it, you don’t even have to believe in yourself, just stick with it and show up for yourself every day you can. I can say, be very successful.”
Texas Technical Trades School is located at 9700 Almeda Genoa Rd. Information about classes can be found on this website.
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