A soft-spoken Sharon Springs teen is building a solid future for herself at Capital Region BOCES.
Breanna Parrotti is a senior in the Building Trades program at the Career & Technical Education Center – Schoharie Campus. She aspires to a career in the construction industry and in the process hopes to shatter gender stereotypes for who occupies jobs in that industry.
Although the number is rising, according to the National Association for Women in Construction, just 9.9% of the jobs in the industry are held by women.
“I like hands-on work. I prefer to see what I can actually do, rather than read textbooks and write stuff down,” Parrotti said.
March is National Women in The Trades Month and throughout the month the Capital Region BOCES Career and Technical School is shining a spotlight on women in the trades, such as Wright, who are challenging stereotypes and building solid futures through their education at Capital Region BOCES.
Parrotti plans to take her training to the next level and will attend SUNY Delhi’s Construction Technology program in the fall.
Eventually, she plans to work as a project superintendent for a construction operation.
“I like the work I am doing in Mr. [Matt] Hitchcock’s [Building Trades] class, but I want to be more in charge of the site,” she said.
Parrotti said BOCES set her up well for her future endeavors.
“I think I am pretty prepared for it. I have learned the fundamentals at BOCES and made some connections,” she said.
Among those connections she forged at BOCES was one with several business partners, including Erick Kenney, who works as a project superintendent for BBL Construction Services and is himself a graduate of Capital Region BOCES.
She recently interviewed and was hired for a post-high school work internship with Kenney.
“It’s exciting to see what the future holds for me,” Parrotti said.
Capital Region BOCES Managing Program Coordinator-Business & Community Partnerships Nancy Liddle praised the scholar and BBL for affording opportunities to her.
“Our business partnerships continue to offer students endless opportunities. It is rewarding to have a CTE alumni interview and hire a current student as we continue to build the workforce,” said Liddle. “It’s exciting that Breanna’s first assignment will be working on the same building that she started her trade in as she joins the crew taking part in the ongoing project on our Schoharie CTE campus.”