Girl power shines at woman-focused career event

“I haven’t had a lot of opportunities to learn about careers and stuff so it's very nice here because there are a bunch of girls and it’s very empowering,” she said. “It’s nice being here with all these girls that are going through the same thing because girls are not very talked about in jobs and powerful positions in the work community, so it’s very nice to be here.”

Jentzsch and her 43 peers were attending the Soroptimist International of the Greater Hermiston Area's Dream It, Be It Career Support for Girls. Soroptimist is an international nonprofit community service organization focused on social and economic empowerment of women and girls to improve their lives.

‘If they can dream it, they can be it’

This was the local Soroptimist chapter’s first iteration of the Dream It, Be It program, a one-day event to help teenage girls prepare for the future. Slots for the program filled within four days of opening registration, showing organizers there was a strong desire for this kind of programming. Each participant, who had to be a girl in grades nine through 12, received a Stanley Quencher H2.O Tumbler and was entered to win one of two $200 cash prizes.

The goal was “to help center (girls) on a career and think that whatever they want to do, if they can dream it, they can be it,” said Vicki Horneck, president of the Hermiston area Soroptimist chapter and co-chair of the program. “We hope that they come away excited and they come away with some ideas of a career or a direction that they want to go.”

The event consisted of seven sessions, that women involved with Soroptimist led, and focused on different aspects relevant to career development. Tthe first few sessions narrowed in on brainstorming ideas and creating goals. The next few highlighted ways to deal with stress and how to deal with failure. Finally, 14 women led “speed mentoring” sessions with small groups, answering participants’ questions about their careers and journeys.

Participants indicated possible career paths they wanted to follow during registration, so Horneck and her co-chair, Sally Peatow, tried to find community members for speed mentoring who fit the girls’ interests. This led to nurses, business owners, nonprofit leaders and women in other professions offering lessons and perspectives to the girls.

“I want those girls to know you don’t have to do what your parents want and you can be your person and do whatever you want to do in life,” Horneck said, “and we can help you hone those ideas and show you some ways to write goals and help you achieve them.”

Plan like a girl

The morning sessions focused on brainstorming possible careers, and the girls even had the chance to create career vision boards. They learned how to hone broad ideas or goals into smaller, specific ones that are more manageable.

Jentzsch, the Hermiston High School student, said being able to set an achievable goal will be helpful in the future. She also liked learning to identify her work values, she said, or the parts of a job that are important for an individual to feel satisfied in their role.

“Values are very important to me, and to get to learn about what my work values are is very (nice),” she said. “It’s hard to balance your work and your values.”

Adamary Torres, a 17-year-old senior at Stanfield High School, said she also liked making achievable goals. She said she plans to pursue a career as an ultrasound technician or a nurse, which require attention to detail.

“I think it’s been good,” Torres said of the program. “It helped me be able to set plans for myself.”

Later, during the day’s final session, Torres talked to a nurse, Megan Baskins, who works at Good Shepherd and came to the event as a speed mentor.

“I think this is a great opportunity to talk with some young girls and help them explore opportunities and figure out who they want to become when they grow up,” Baskins said. “This is an amazing moment for me, I just feel so proud to be a part of something like this.”

Baskins said she comes from a family where college isn’t the norm, and navigating the college and career worlds felt somewhat foreign. She was especially excited to take part in a career opportunity geared towards people who might be like her younger self.

“I’m proud to be a part of a career that is largely run by women,” she said. “It is a strong, female-driven career and I’m proud to be a part of it. I love that I get to be able to talk with these girls, especially about my job.”

Girls can do anything

Another speed mentor, Alex Rose, is a pipefitter and welder in Pasco. She was one of the few — or only — women present who works in the trades and followed a career path that didn’t require college. She has worked in the industry for almost 10 years.

“I think that it’s really important for young girls to know that there’s other avenues other than college,” she said. “I think that far too often, it’s ingrained in us to be people-pleasers, and to take a step back, and so I want to be able to show a lot of these girls that it’s important to value yourself and to know what you want and to go for it, and to not care what anybody else thinks.”

Rose said as a pipefitter and welder, she is in a very male-dominated space and hopes to be a mentor to other women who are excited about the industry. And more than anything, she said, even if the girls didn’t want to pursue welding, she wanted them to leave with confidence.

Kacie Levy, a financial advisor based in Hermiston, said she decided to participate as a speed mentor because the event is “incredible.”

“I’m a mother of two little girls,” Levy said. “It just really speaks to me to help youth in the area figure out what their dreams are and go for them, and feel confident that they can.”

Levy said she hopes the Dream It, Be It event is around when her daughters are in high school so they can get the opportunity to speak with experts in so many different fields. The girls on March 9, she said, will hopefully leave with ideas for careers they may never have considered before.

“The variety in here is incredible,” she said of the room full of mentors. “These girls should walk away today with some type of inspiration for some field one day.”