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Davenport students finding a place for women in construction while building a new home

Both students are part of the homebuilding program at Davenport high schools, where they build a home from the ground up.

DAVENPORT, Iowa — March 3-9, 2024 marks Women in Construction Week, a chance for the industry to celebrate women in the field.

The week came around just as students from the Davenport high schools kept building a new home, as part of the student home building program. Every year, students work together to build a home from the ground up, getting hands-on learning from teachers with industry experience. 

The program is sponsored by the Quad City Area Realtors and the Quad Cities Builders & Remodelers Association, who help with training and listing the finished home on the market.

This year's class had two female students, who are both seniors from Davenport West High School: Isabel Valerio and Alexis Rodriguez. "I feel like yesterday, it was just the cement being poured for the foundation," Valerio remarked on their progress with building the home.

"It's really crazy to see how much work it takes, building the house from the ground up," Rodriguez said.

Credit: WQAD
Isabel Valerio (L) and Alexis Rodriguez (R)

Both Valerio and Rodriguez were in part inspired by family to take the course. 

"My dad's a superintendent for Hy-Vee Construction, just watched him as I grew up, doing it, and it seemed fun to me," Valerio said.

"My dad does something like that. I just thought it was interesting, it's better than doing some other things other people do," Rodriguez said.

Despite both Valerio and Rodriguez being the only two women in their construction class of 15 students, that still puts them above the industry average. Data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor shows that around one in ten construction workers are women, a ratio that hasn't moved much in the past few years. The disparity doesn't bother either women, however.

"I don't feel out of place at all here. It's kind of open arms," Valerio said.

"Not many people do it and more people should — it's just like any other job you would get," Rodriguez said.

The hard work and determination from the two students is something their instructor Andrew Varner is proud of.

"In our program, the girls don't do any less than the men do here," Varner explained. "These two are pulling the weight in our class, so I don't know what anybody else can say, but I'm all for the women in our class." 

Both students said the program is helping them determine their paths after they graduate in Spring 2024. Rodriguez said she's narrowing down a focus for trade school, while Valerio said she plans on studying construction management at Kirkwood Community College in Cedar Rapids.

    

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