Event planned to get Northland girls into infrastructure industry

The 2019 Girls in Infrastructure event, above, was a huge success and paved the way for the 2021 event. Photo / Fullmoon Photography

Northland girls wanting to get into the infrastructure industry can learn more, and look at opportunities at an event in Whangārei later this month.

Schoolgirls from across Northland have the opportunity to see up close a wide range of career opportunities in the infrastructure industry, at the second Girls in Infrastructure day.

Held this year at Golden Bay Cement on March 30, the day will enable girls from high schools across the region the opportunity to explore the Golden Bay Cement operations, as well as hear from a range of companies and educational providers about the varied career choices available across the infrastructure industry.

Kelly Stevens, Process Engineering Manager, at Golden Bay Cement, one of the organisers of the event, said the day is a great opportunity for young women to see a range of career choices they may not have thought about, and to talk to other women currently in those roles about their experiences and how they ended up in these careers.

''Having the event on site at Golden Bay, the students are able to get up close to our operations, as well as talk to our staff directly," Stevens said.

Kelly Stevens, Process Engineering Manager, is looking forward to welcoming girls to Golden Bay Cement.

Arden Hermans, Ancillary Projects Department Manager from Fulton Hogan Northland, is passionate about bringing more women into the industry, herself a graduate of NorthTec's Civil Engineering diploma.

Hermans helped organise a similar event in 2019 and said the feedback from girls who attended in 2019 was overwhelmingly positive.

''Many had never had any exposure to the broad range of careers being represented and they said afterwards that they were inspired to find out more," she said.

Attending the event will be a range of female industry representatives, from various trades, technical roles, health and safety, environmental planning, as well as engineers and project managers.

Northland companies participating include Fulton Hogan, McKay, Northpower, Golden Bay Cement, Stantec and Beca. Educational institutes attending include NorthTec, Connexis, and Manukau Institute of Technology.

Mackenize Ashby, Northpower's Training manager, said there are still some spaces left, so anybody interested should get in touch to make sure they don't miss out.
Inquiries should be sent to mackenzie.ashby@northpower.com and registrations close on March 12.

Girls in Infrastructure is an initiative of the Northland Chapter of Women's Infrastructure Network and is supported by Infrastructure New Zealand.