CAREER & EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES
Your complete guide to local career and education • Fall 2020
Special Supplement to The Glendale Star and Peoria Times
INSIDE This Issue
GRAND CANYON UNIVERSITY .......... 4 GCU teams with Glendale Chamber for discounted tuition
GLENDALE COMMUNITY COLLEGE ................ 6 Seven steps to restarting your career
GLENDALE ELEMENTARY ...... 10 Increasing focus on supporting students and families
Female auto tech Cali Orr on her way to BMW BY CHRISTINA FUOCO-KARASINSKI
Career & Education Opportunities Executive Editor
Cali Orr is only 18, but she is on her way to her dream job, thanks to West-MEC. The Peoria resident studied a trade that isn’t common among women—automotive technology—and earned a 4.0. “When I was growing up, my uncle was a mechanic,” she said. “My whole family was into cars. We’re a really handy family. “We try to do everything we can—if we have the right tools.” Orr discovered her passion for cars in the eighth grade. She enjoys solving problems and learning. “I learn every single day,” she added. “That was why I liked the idea of automotive and fixing things.” She attended West-MEC because it was less expensive than other technical schools. While she studied there, she was inspired by her teacher, Nick Shumaker. Shumaker said he doesn’t see a lot of women in his automotive technology classes. “We usually run between 10% and 20% women,” he said. “We usually have somewhere between two and four. That’s usually on the high side. This year, I have no girls in either of my classes. It ebbs and flows, obviously.” Shumaker said although the automotive classes aren’t usually something that’s appealing to females, they’re the ones who are the most successful. “The girls end up making service manager or manager before the boys,” he said.
Cali Orr studied automotive technology at West-MEC. (Photo courtesy West-MEC)
“They think differently, and they’re more analytical about stuff.” The Bureau of Labor Statistics found there are 19,236 female auto mechanics (2.1% of all auto mechanics) and a total 130,174 women in the automotive repair and maintenance field as of 2018. Furthermore, women account for 9.7% of the 1.34 million employees in the auto
repair and maintenance industry in the United States. In contrast, there were only 12,000 female auto mechanics out of 837,000 total mechanics in 1999. Therefore, in 1999 only 1.4% of auto mechanics were women while in 2018 2.1% of auto mechanics
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