Emmett O'Brien Female Manufacturing Students Get A Look At The Future

ANSONIA – Female students in Emmett O’Brien Technical High School’s precision machining program got a lesson Oct. 25 about how to break the glass ceiling in the mostly male-dominated manufacturing field.

More than 30 girls enrolled in department head Steve Orloski’s program were treated to an event held in the school’s Café 141 to celebrate national manufacturing month.

The program featured three female CEOs, and three female tech school graduates who spoke of the numerous opportunities available today for women in manufacturing.

State Rep. Kara Rochelle was also on hand, and was a recipient of a leadership award from the event’s sponsor, Manufacture CT.

Orloski’s precision machining tech department is the largest in the state, with a waiting list to get in. 

He receives constant calls from employers looking to recruit students for manufacturing jobs. According to one of the speakers at Tuesday’s program, Jill Mayer, CEO of Bead Manufacturing in Milford, there are currently 6,000 job openings in manufacturing in Connecticut, but there’s less than half that number of trained people to fill those jobs.

Orloski said 98 percent of EOB seniors, and 70 percent of juniors in his program are currently working in the industry while still attending school. He said the need for skilled workers in the vast manufacturing industry – where jobs can run the gamut from toolmaking to marketing – continues to grow in the state.

“We’re celebrating manufacturing month and I wanted to bring in some of our school’s biggest supporters to let you know what it takes to be successful in manufacturing today,” Orloski said. ​“Hopefully some of you will be standing where they are in the years to come.”

Success Stories

Marcy Minnick, a Shelton native, and CEO of Excello Tool of Milford, told students she never dreamed of working in manufacturing, let alone imagine she’d be running the family business.

“I walked in without any clue what manufacturing was,” Minnick said. ​“I didn’t know how to read a blueprint; I didn’t know how to hold a vice. Our shop was full of men. I was a woman in an industry I had no knowledge of.”

Minnick took classes at Housatonic Community College and learned how to lead. She said many of the classes she took in college are the very same the EOB students are taking today. That early start will help them jumpstart their future careers.

“You may not know where your career path goes but you made a really wonderful decision first by choosing the trades, and second by choosing this (manufacturing) industry,” Minnick said. ​“The sky’s the limit, and certainly the fact that you are a woman in this, there is no reason why those ceilings cannot continuously be broken.”

Both Mayer and Kathy Saint, CEO of Schwerdtle Stamp of Bridgeport, told the students as females they have a lot going for them.

“When I started out in the family business, I was the only female in the shop and nobody was real happy about that,” Saint said. ​“But now everywhere I go there are women in manufacturing, doing every job a man can do and in a lot of ways better because we all know we work great as teams, we’re really good at communicating and we don’t have a tendency to let our egos get in the way.”.

Future Bosses

Niyah Newell, 17, a junior in EOB’s machining program, recently landed a job at OEM Controls in Shelton, where she assembles controllers, brake pads and other parts for cars two days a week while still in school. 

“Since seventh grade I knew I wanted to go into aerospace and once I came to Emmett my freshmen year, I was just gunning for the machine shop,” Niyah said. ​“Making parts for rocketry is my main thing and working for NASA is the goal. I would like to work on actual aircraft and satellites.”

Niyah said listening to the female CEOs and former tech school grads was inspiring ​“because you got to hear things from your point of view and what struggles and challenges they may go through and how they overcome them.”

Hali Langer, 17, a senior, who also works at OEM Controls, came to EOB as a freshman interested in hairdressing, but changed her mind when she came upon Orloski’s classes.

“I realized there’s a lot of opportunities in this industry and I want to see how far I can go,” she said. 

Finding Success

Orloski’s first female machine shop student from the class of 2008, Lydianna Vega, a lead inspector with Airlock in Milford, impressed the students with her success story. She was one of only six female students in Orloski’s shop some 14 years ago.

“I was hooked on the fact that this was a career path that not many women choose or even knew about, and I always liked the idea of breaking boundaries and doing what wasn’t considered the norm for females,” Vega said.

She landed a job at age 17 right out of high school, purchased a BMW at age 21, travels around the world and is financially independent..

At Airlock for the past 14 years, Vega said she is able to work hand in hand with NASA, inspecting 60 percent of parts for astronaut’s suits before they’re sold to NASA. She encouraged the students to embrace their organizational skills and they’ll go far in the industry.

“I strongly believe that with hard work and having goals, anything is possible,” Vega said. ​“I really look forward to what we as women in manufacturing can accomplish in years to come.”