“Doesn’t seem that weird to me. When I was eight-years-old, my dad and my grandfather built me a motor and race car, and I was a little girl who helped my dad work on his race car each weekend. It never seemed weird to me that my mother ran her own business and bought a racetrack. Or that my dad taught me how to change a tire. It never seemed weird when someone said something to me about those things until it wasn’t a societal norm.” These words from Chloe Murphy and Gabby Sprung help to set the stage for their accomplishments throughout high school.
These girls are breaking barriers and making a name for themselves in the traditionally male-dominated field of the welding industry. Their journey isn’t just a testament to their individual determination and skill, but it’s a beacon of progress in the vocational education at Central Westmoreland Career and Technology Center.
As one of the 5 female students in her class, Chloe Murphy, an 11th grader at Hempfield Area High School, is a second-year welding student at CWCTC. Murphy claims that even though she was anxious to enroll in her first welding class—especially since it was predominately male—she was inspired to strive for improvement as a result. After welding a few times, Murphy decided to join her stepfather, who works alone for his own company, as the reason behind the beginning of her journey. Murphy has spent countless hours overachieving at CWCTC, and her teachers decided that they wanted her to represent their school as a student ambassador. As a student ambassador, Murphy takes charge of the tours in–school and outside of school where incoming students from the 10 sending school districts come to see the building. While keeping up with her work, Murphy took 9th graders and middle schoolers on tours from January through March. As she continues with her dreams and aspirations, Murphy will continue her journey and rise up in her welding shop at CWCTC.
Likewise, Gabby Sprung is a Junior at Hempfield Area and a Welder at Central Westmoreland Career and Technology Center. She was also nervous walking into a class, not knowing what was going to happen in the classroom. Sprung breaks barriers and sets standards. Sprung said that “most of the boys in her class were very welcoming”, which a lot of people wouldn’t expect of teenage boys. Throughout her time in her welding class, Sprung has achieved numerous accomplishments that highlight her commitment. Sprung is also a student ambassador for her class, as she keeps up with her work and her grades. She as well tours upcoming students and goes out of her way to showcase her classroom and classmates to different schools. Sprung will continue to make strides, and even though she may not continue with this trade in the future, she will continue to achieve her goals and exceed.
As these girls continue to rise up, their journey may look differently than the average high school student. Murphy chose the program, because she wants to pursue Welding, as she knows welders make a lot of money. Sprung on the other hand just wanted to learn it for fun and knew how it worked, but she doesn’t want to pursue a career out of it. Sprung has many other opportunities as she’s also a volunteer firefighter and is on the color guard team as well. No matter what next steps these empowering females take, they are certain to be a success.
