Alumna Uses Welding Torch to Blaze Trail for Industrious Young Women

A 2005 graduate in Penn College's welding and fabrication engineering technology major, a manufacturing specialist at Toyota Motor Engineering and Manufacturing North America in Georgetown, Ky., continues to inspire girls drawn to "nontraditional" career fields. Jennifer R. Brinkley has been profiled by the Byron Academy, a New York-based online community where young women in grades seven to 12 can foster and expand their interest in science and technology. “Girls and young women should absolutely be willing to try something new and step outside of their boundaries and preconceived notions about what women can and can’t do," Brinkley says. Her choice of career has sparked a lot of curiosity, she adds, but "in more recent years, I find that many people are fascinated by what I do at work and that I maintain a presence in a primarily male-dominated field.” For more about the alumna, who also holds an associate degree in welding technology and was featured in the college's "degrees that work" television series, read "Toyota's Brinkley Shows Women Can Be Welders Too."