New club encourages female students to learn tech ed skills
By Emily Aamodt, Current Staff
Thanks to Jacob Gitter, Ladies Tech Ed is here.
This new high school club offers girls a chance to try their hand at some of the traditionally male-dominated classes, such as welding, basic auto-maintenance, auto-emergency, woodworking, and screen-printing. The club started Oct. 20.
Jacob Gitter teaches a student how to weld.
Originally thought up last year, Ladies Tech Ed has been a work in progress. Gitter, a tech ed teacher at East, was “the brains” of the operation, ironing out and fine-tuning all the details. “We’re trying to increase your non-traditional enrollment, so not just the boys. I don’t get a lot of girls [in courses], and when I do, they’re very successful but nervous taking the class because of the boys,” Gitter said when asked why the club was intended for ladies only.
This after-school activity isn’t just for students, but staff members as well. Dawn Cox and Ann Jacoby, two aides at WBHS, were some of the first participants. “It’s a new experience, and you never know if you are good at something unless you try,” Jacoby said about why she went to the club.
The club appeared to be a crowd-pleaser. “I enjoyed it and plan to go to the other topics Mr. Gitter offers,” Cox said.
“After we were done, I was pleasantly surprised! I learned how to weld in roughly two hours; most people can’t do that!,” said Krystle Hader, a West sophomore.
By meeting two or three times per month, Gitter hopes Ladies Tech Ed will see increased participation and get girls interested in all the tech ed classes.
(Top Image: Katie Espen, West sophomore, learns to weld. Photographs by Emily Aamodt, Current Staff.)
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