little Kayleen was. It was wholeheartedly and
unaffectedly encouraged. And I took to it like a
cow – er, fish – to water.
Jump ahead some fourteen or fifteen years.
Using a circular saw by the age of four and
helping with a full home renovation at eight were
highlights of my young life. Yet as a halfwaydecent high schooler student, every message
at that time (the late 1990s) told me the same
thing: Enroll in college prep courses – not that
vocational nonsense that’s there for the lazy and
not-so-bright. Take SAT prep courses. Then the
SATs. Go to college. Get a respectable job. Pay
someone else to do the grunt work – probably
those kids who take shop classes, and who will
wish they had your life. Maybe squeeze in the
occasional DIY project between washing the car
and wiping down your riding mower. Because
those are the things you aspire to – and deserve
- when you earn grades higher than Cs.
So I did all those things. Some more than
once, in the case of enrolling in college! Let’s
just say this: A few institutes of higher education
and a lot of tuition later, it became pretty obvious
that I’m happiest on job sites. Not on academic
research websites.
So I dropped out. My lit professors were
probably really happy to never read another
essay full of sheetrock and drywall metaphors
again (especially when those papers were
supposed to be about Shakespeare…). My mom?
Not quite as happy, but she came around.
But what’s a girl to do when the thing –
16
Remodel Tampa Bay
the career - she wants is in a historically and
currently male-dominated field?
In the case of this girl, she took a bunch of
dead ends until she returned fully to that first
love: Working with her hands on contracting jobs
that eventually landed her a TV show.
I know. I’m still pinching myself over the TV
part. Hosting a cable show gave me countless
travel and training opportunities I never dreamed
of. But back to my initial point, it also provided
to be a double-edged forum in which I received
that look – those questions – on a regular basis.
To the cable-watching public, the unspoken
question always seemed to be this: It’s cool that
you’re a woman tackling skilled labor head on.
The market’s collapse finally validated what I’d
heard murmured among many for years: How
will this systemic push toward traditional higher
education sustain itself? Who will unclog the
pipes and replace transmissions when anyone
deemed intelligent is pushed toward college –
not to mention saddled with the debt that often
comes with it?
Okay, since we’re here: I’ve met so many
people who attended four-year colleges
because it’s the so-called respectable thing to
do, only to change their minds later, switching
gears to become a general contractor, electrician
or a plumber. Sometimes this trial and error cost
them a lifetime’s worth of student debt.
Today’s emerging young workforce has all
the liberal arts knowledge a culture could dream
of, and all the financial shackles that keep them
from embracing it.
Okay, has the swimming cow overstayed
her welcome? A few parting words before she
towels off for now:
You probably won’t be surprised to hear
that my goal is two-fold: To fan the fire that
burnt down the pervasive ‘college > trades”
mentality, and to encourage America’s students
– America’s smart, strong students – to consider
careers in the trades. Wanna defy our nation’s
obesity epidemic? Check. Earn a steady living?
Check. Be unlikely to lack for work, considering
the United States is facing a severe skilled labor
shortage? Check.
The times I’ve presented these goals of mine
at industry events, I see company CEOs nod
in agreement. I’ve learned from conversations
with them that some companies are so short on
qualified labor, they’re forced to submit specific
curriculum requests to vocational schools just to
get the workforce they need. For respectably-
“...it became pretty obvious that I’m happiest on
job sites. Not on academic research websites.”
But let’s get down to it: Why are you REALLY
doing this?
That insinuation – that this career choice is not
only questionable for a woman, but incongruent
with what it means to be one – lies at the heart
of America’s vocational problem. As does the
assertion that vocational pursuits should be
thought of as leftovers to be gobbled up only
if management-track roles are all filled by the
smarter set.
Remember 2008? A bad year for many, but
something happened in 2008 that I swear will
benefit vocational labor for decades to come.
paid jobs! Jobs that shouldn’t be so hard to
fill in an economy where countless grads with
bachelor degrees are facing a one-two punch of
joblessness and astronomical student loans.
Could the push toward the trades be any
more logical? No. It couldn’t be.
I look forward to the revolution about to take
place – a revolution to reintroduce vocational
education as a viable, respectful choice for our
nation’s up-and-coming workforce – male and
female alike.
I hope you’ll join me.
Fall | Winter 2015