SPARKING OPPORTUNITIES for Women in Trades

| By: ERIN COULEHAN |

Sun City Welding Academy is sparking opportunities for women in trade industries while also solidifying work ethic, craftsmanship, and confidence in students. According to the American Welding Society, women make up only five percent of the welding workforce despite a recent boom in the industry wherein more than 300,000 welding job openings are expected nationwide by 2024.

In El Paso, the Sun City Welding Academy is working to train new generations of the workforce while also helping women torch the glass ceiling of the traditionally male-dominated field. Currently, Sun City Welding Academy is the region’s premier welding school that focuses on industrial pipe welding for the oil and gas industry, as well as commercial and residential use.

Brissia Vega is co-owner of Sun City Welding Academy, who is trained as an industrial engineer and currently works as a Quality Assurance / Quality Control inspector at Marathon Oil, sat down with The City Magazine to discuss the world of women in welding.

The City Magazine

How did you get your start in welding?

Brissia Vega

My dad is a welder. I have a couple of uncles who are welders as well, and I’m an industrial engineer. I started by going into the industry as a helper first and then moved up to do field engineering. I found the passion for inspecting the welding part of it. I started looking at welds, following drawings, and learning the backside of it. So with Scott, who is also co-owner, being the welder and me being the inspector, it was a good mix for the school itself.

TCM

How important is it for women to be represented in trades like welding?

BV

Very important because as a woman in the field, I feel that women’s representation is undervalued and is underrepresented.

Women are very successful in this industry. The very few women who do welding are really good at it. So having the school, being able to bring more women into this industry, teaching them the trade then seeing how excited they are about it and seeing that they’re able to succeed is just mind blowing. It shows them that they can do the same thing that a guy is doing at their own pace. So it’s really rewarding.

TCM

What’s a regular day like for you?

BV

I work at Marathon’s refinery, as well. I’m a QA/ QC manager there. I go to work at 7:30 and then after work, at 4pm, I come to school till 9pm. I do check some of the work that our students do, I help with paperwork, enrolling them all the way, to just running the office. We have test Saturdays, and that’s when it’s my full day of being there in the shop with the students.

We bring them in at 7:30 in the morning, they prepare their stuff and they have to go through me to be able to advance.

TCM

What do people get wrong about welding?

BV

That it’s a man’s field. Also, I think not giving women the opportunity by seeing them as fragile and not capable of performing. But once you see a woman in the field and when you see her climbing and moving around -- maybe in tighter spots that a robust guy can’t fit -- you understand that there’s room for everybody in this industry. There are a lot of welders needed. So either male or female, we cannot discriminate.

TCM

Why did you decide to start this academy?

BV

El Paso needed a welding school specialized in piping. I’m the one who tests welders when they come in looking for a job, so I know what they require. I know what they need. I know what our students’ capabilities are now on the backside. We give them the same industry standard test that we do in any other job. Having the opportunity of also recruiting women and bringing them up, then seeing how they perform and how their skill level improves is just very rewarding. Their confidence grows from the day they start.

They have their gloves, they have all their equipment. They feel confident and once they finish their tests and see they’re doing well -- it’s just awesome. It’s very, very neat to see it. When they see that they did a good job and when they see that they’re able to perform a good weld is so rewarding. Producing a good looking weld and a good quality product at the end of the day, not messing up or getting frustrated and remaining being calm, consistent and just following what they’re supposed to do gives them that confidence. As women, sometimes our confidence is what kind of triggers us, but doing what you’re supposed to and pushing through and making it happen can help. Then, seeing your finished product, something that you’ve done with your hands is very nice.

TCM

What do you think are some of the biggest challenges for women in this industry?

BV

Breaking the stigma about women in welding. Being more confident in yourself is one of the things that can get you far in this industry, or as a woman anywhere. I have been at the refinery for 10 years, and I have been the only woman in the field for a long time until now. I see more women -- not necessarily in my area, but scaffold builders, painters, other other craft engineers -- and seeing them stay in the industry is neat. It’s very nice to see.

El Paso Children’s Hospital

transformed UTEP’s Don Haskins Center into an Old Hollywood dream to celebrate its hard working staff. Guests enjoyed live music, charcuterie, and old school glamor in appreciation of the dedicated and expert work achieved at EPCH each day.

Cast

and crew celebrated wrapping production of “Intersected” at The Berkeley this spring. The short film is a sci-fi, romantic, fantasy with a psychological feel written and directed by Jamiah Dancil with the original story by her daughter Taliah Dancil.

Conditions Treated

ANORECTAL MALFORMATION (ARM), FREQUENT/URGENT BED-WETTING, CANCER OF THE URINARY AND GENITAL SYSTEMS, CHRONIC KIDNEY DISEASE (RENAL FAILURE), CIRCUMCISION, DAYTIME WETTING, DISORDERS OF SEXUAL DEVELOPMENT (DSD), DUPLICATED KIDNEY, FREQUENCY/URGENCY URINATION, HERNIA/HYDROCELE, KIDNEY STONES, LABIAL ADHESIONS, TESTICULAR TORSION, TRAUMATIC INJURY OF THE URINARY SYSTEM OR GENITALS, UNDESCENDED TESTICLE, URETHRAL STRICTURE, URINARY REFLUX, URINARY TRACT INFECTION (UTI)

ElPasoChildrens.org