If you look in the E-Tech classroom at Wilmer-Hutchins High School in Dallas where students are learning how to work in the electrical trade, one student stands out.
"Right now, only me," Odalys Perez said laughing. She's the only female in the school's electrical study track. "Most of the trades are mostly male-dominated."
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, women make up just 2 percent of electricians.
"Since there's now, at this point, a shortage of men going into the trades, young ladies are really looking at this as a viable profession," career and technical education teacher Rene Sears said. "They really take on a lot quicker than the young men. Their attention to detail is great!"
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"For me, since my dad works in masonry, I kinda see more of a connection with electrical," Perez said. "Electrical for me is more like a creative, and also critical thinking because you gotta think about your safety, because you know it's dangerous."
Perez's decision to follow an electrical path of study in high school means she is also getting college credit. She'll graduate in the top 10 percent of her class at Wilmer-Hutchins High School and also have an Associate of Applied Sciences in Construction Technology.
"For me, seeing her from her freshman to her senior year, I've seen the lightbulb just continue to get brighter and brighter," Sears said proudly. "She's outstanding, that's all I can say!"
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Perez plans to continue her studies at Texas A&M where she wants to major in construction engineering.
"I feel happy cause knowing that light switch turned on, I feel excited for me in a certain way. I be like, yes, I did it," Perez said smiling. "We can make it possible."
