“I want to take it as far as it will go,” said Stephanie Hajducek, founder of ‘This One’s For the Gals.’
SINTON, Texas — In this Women’s History Month, a group originating out of San Patricio County, wants to continue paving the way for young women who are eager and excited to enter the workforce after graduation.
Stephanie Hajducek is the founder of “This One’s For the Gals,” a program that aims to educate high school girls about the various opportunities available to them in non-traditional, and often male-dominated occupations. Outreach is done through social media, by attending career fairs and visiting area high schools.
Hajducek says she felt inspired when she attended a “Women in Industry” conference in Galveston back in 2017. Something that caught her attention were the bus-loads of high school girls being brought in to also attend and learn about the different jobs.
She lives in Taft and has worked for Steel Dynamics, who is a proud supporter of the program. She pitched the idea of them helping to sponsor some students from Sinton to go to the conference this year and was met with enthusiasm and full-on support.
From there, she reached out to other schools and area-companies:
“I have not gotten a no yet,” said Hajducek.
“It’s just creating awareness and I think that’s what we need to do, and this is the start right? I think we have so much industry coming in to the area and things are changing, and that’s what we’re here for: just to create awareness and work together with the schools.”
“I’m super grateful to Steel Dynamics to give us this opportunity,” said Ryleigh Sibley, a senior at Sinton High School. “I’ve always known that I wanted to go into something STEM-related and am hoping that here I can explore and find more options.”
What began as an idea has now resulted in Hajducek being able to help take over 200 girls from all San Patricio County schools, as well as Refugio and Rockport-Fulton, to the conference later this month in Galveston.
Sponsors include: Steel Dynamics, Cheniere Energy, Gulf Coast Growth Ventures, Kiewit, Chemours, Airforce Turbine Services, MMR Group and Boardwalk Pipelines.
“My goal is to help bring a conference like this to our area,” Hajducek said. “Del Mar will be sending representation to the conference in Galveston in an effort to bring back some ideas to get one started in the Coastal Bend and I’ve had a conversation with Texas A&M-CC as well. Both are eager to help with this initiative.”
She’s also hoping to include more Coastal Bend-area schools to attend the Galveston conference next year, and encourages school leaders/students/parents to reach out if they have any questions by emailing: stephanie@thisonesforthegals.com
Click here to visit the program’s Facebook page.
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