‘Women in Trades’

Emily Gri th Technical College celebrates women entering fields traditionally held by men

BY BRUCE GOLDBERG SPECIAL TO COLORADO COMMUNITY MEDIA

A woman’s place is in the kitchen – xing the pipes, of course. Or maybe doing plumbing repairs in the bathroom, or perhaps, xing a client’s HVAC unit.

Emily Gri th Technical College in downtown Denver has been educating people for more than 100 years. Recently, it created a special focus to attract female students to study careers in the trades.

ese female students were in the spotlight on May 9, when the Emily Gri th Foundation hosted an inaugural event at ReelWorks Denver called A Celebration of Women in Trades. It was a sellout with 256 attendees, and proved that more women are entering the elds that men have historically dominated.

“It was incredible,” said Robin Chalecki, president of the Emily Gri th Foundation. “We have not done a fundraiser lunch for a couple of years, since COVID. I wanted to host an event that really highlighted our students in the best way.”

Chalecki credits Emily Gri th students for their initiative and willingness to invest in themselves and their futures.

“Our students are so incredible, so entrepreneurial in spirit, investing in themselves to make their lives better,” she said. “It’s students that know the path they are taking.”

Emily Gri th has an 82% completion rate for its students, an 85% placement rate and a 99% success rate when it comes to students earning their licenses. More than 400 employers have hired Emily Gri th students.

Sarah Flores graduated from Emily Gri th last year with a certicate in HVAC while also working full-time as a service technician for Timberline Mechanical Systems in Boulder, where she’s worked for four years.

Flores served in the Marines and earned a bachelor’s degree but decided against going into teaching because of a lack of jobs.

Her father was a second-generation plumber.

“I thought I’d go back to what I knew, which is plumbing,” Flores said. “Trades will always be a highdemand, steady job. I could get hired just about anywhere. ere’s a high demand for my skill set, particularly since I have both a plumb- ing and HVAC background.”

In the long view, Flores would like to get a managerial job or go into engineering.

Catrina Peralta is studying CADBIM, which stands for computer aided drafting and building information modeling, at Emily Gri th and will nish her studies in April next year.

As the fourth child in a family of nine kids, she’s been working since she was 12 and has honed good work habits.

“I had to work really young to help out the family,” said Peralta, who is 36.

She describes computer programming as “all these di erent tools to build a building — anything from ground up, designing windows, doors, xtures, where electricity is run.”

Peralta has a job, and is taking courses 10 hours a week in person and the rest online.