Ashley Kuzminski likes to weld.

With a father who’s a welder, she was excited after her ninth-grade tour of the Warren County Career Center to get involved in the welding program during her sophomore year.

Now a senior and getting set to graduate this spring, Ashley said she’s glad she followed through on that goal, even if it was a bit difficult to start.

For girls in traditionally male subjects, as is true for women in predominantly male-dominated fields, the social aspects of success can present problems. That’s why technical academic programs like those offered at the WCCC try to offset some of the uncertainty that can come with girls wanting to go into traditionally male classrooms, and vice versa.

Ashley said that, in her first year, she took a bit of relational aggression from the boys in her classroom. She even considered quitting. But, after talking about it with WCCC Principal Jim Evers, she decided to stick it out. And she couldn’t be happier that she did.

With the cohort and classroom composition always changing from year to year throughout the three-year program, things settled down and, with the graduation of some students and the introduction of new, younger students during her second year, the picking lessened and eventually died out.

She has excelled in the program, said Evers.

“She’s a great student,” he said of Kuzminski, who said that after graduation she may not go into welding as a profession, but definitely as a hobby. She’ll also be competing at Skills USA this year in the sculpture welding competition.

As for whether or not she’d advise girls interested in learning to weld — or learning any of the skills taught at the WCCC, regardless of the gender composition of the classroom — she said she absolutely would recommend it.

“Absolutely do it,” said Kuzminski. “I could walk out of this program and walk into a welding job when I go.”

She especially appreciates the quality of the equipment she gets to learn on, and her teacher’s connections with viable work opportunities for students after high school.