Think about the last time you saw a female firefighter or a female machinist.

To help celebrate Women’s History Awareness Month, there will be a panel presentation at noon in the east dining room of the Cafeteria on Monday.

“We just try to encourage and inform the students of the possibilities that are out there in industry and technology,” Heidi Cabral, program administrator, said.

“We Are Doing It, So Can You” is presented by the Women in Industry and Technology Program, designed to help women learn what they can accomplish through industry and technology majors.

Speaking at the event will be three students who are taking classes in the industry and technology fields along with two other females, a machinist and a firefighter.

Following the presentation will be a campus tour and classroom demonstration in the Division of Industry and Technology so people may get a better idea of what the program offers.

“Not only will they learn about some non-traditional career paths, the flexibility they offer and the money they can make, but they are also going to be informed on some other services offered here that could only benefit,” Cabral said.

Statistics show that women make up 48 percent of the workforce and that they have a 90 percent chance of becoming sole support for themselves and/or their children at sometime during their lives.

“This is a great opportunity because they can start making a lot of money and they can continue with their education,” Josefina Bedolla, Outreach and Recruitment, said. “People who take these classes actually make more money than people who have a bachelor’s degree.”

This presentation is hoped to help clear up some misconceptions people have when they think of jobs in industry and technology and to open the door for services that do not first come to mind when thinking of careers.

“There are a lot of wrong concepts about these types of careers, that they’re just labor intensive, dirty and grungy, which is not the reality,” Cabral said.

“A lot of people refer to them as blue collar workers; we like to refer to them here in our program as careers,” she said.

Architecture, construction technology, automotive technology and welding are just some of the career possibilities the program offers.

“For me, it’s thrilling, because you feel like you’re a part of this movement in history still,” Roxana Vera, architecture major, said.

“If there are women who want to partake in this, then I think they should feel the power to do so and there is nothing holding them back,” she said.

Bedolla said that the women or students will walk away “excited” with the new knowledge of possible careers they can have now.

“They’ll know that other women are doing this, that this is possible and attainable,” Cabral said.