Engineering Her Path: High school girls discover real-world tech opportunities

Published 6:42 pm Thursday, March 5, 2026

When the doors to the SWLA Women in Industry event opened Thursday morning at the West Cal Event Center, 92 high school students were greeted with a room full of female trailblazers who had been in their shoes.

Created to connect young women with successful female leaders in traditionally male-dominated fields, the event offered real-world exposure to local STEM fields, resources, role models, networking and career guidance with 70 local female industry employees from 11 area companies ready to have their brains picked by the students.

“Our counselor reached out to us and said there was a session on girls in engineering and she knew we wanted to go into that career and thought it would be a good opportunity for us so we were like, ‘OK, let’s go,’ ” said Jalyn Watson, a senior at Westlake High School.

Watson and classmate Jaycie Powell were among students perusing vendor booths, participating in mock interviews and taking headshots to accompany resume packages.

“It seemed like a good opportunity to meet people and see what everybody has to offer,” Powell said. “I’m going for chemical engineering and it feels like a very open option with jobs available all over the world. I want to stay local, though, because my family is here.”

Powell said her interest in chemical engineering peaked during the chemistry courses she had taken in high school, and Thursday’s event made her even more confident in that career path.

Watson said she initially planned to enter college as a biochemistry pre-med major but Thursday’s event opened her eyes to even more possibilities.

“I realized you can do biomedical engineering and study prosthetics and I’m really going to think about that,” she said. “I didn’t realize there were so many options. I was surprised by just how many opportunities there really are and I find that comforting.”

Santana Leday, president of Sowela Technical Community College’s Student Government Association, was among some of the vendors who greeted Powell and Watson during the event, sharing options available at the school.

“This event is important to us women to know that we are important to industry, that we matter, that we bring value to the table, and I think it’s a great opportunity for students and their peers to connect with companies and get to know them early on. It’s never too early to make a good impression — whether they’re submitting resumes or just getting to know the different people who work at these companies and learn exactly what they do.”

Stephanie Huck, the local government and community affairs representative for Cheniere, was key to bringing the event to Southwest Louisiana three years ago.

“I attended the Southeast Texas Women in Industry event and on the way home I told my friend, Amy, we need to have this event here because we’re booming,” Huck said. “The whole goal is to let these young ladies know there are so many career opportunities in industry that they need to be aware of right here at home. That’s our goal — for them to stay here, have a phenomenal career, a high-paying job and thrive in their community.”

Huck said a job in industry doesn’t necessarily mean operations or engineering, either.

“There’s human resources, accounting, public relations, nurses are stationed at the plants, fire-fighting teams, lab analysts. There’s so many opportunities that you can make lots of money doing,” she said.

One of Huck’s favorite parts of the event was the chance for students to speak with SMEs (subject matter experts).

“These SMEs cannot wait for this event, they want to come, they want to share their experiences and lessons learned,” Huck said.

Calcasieu Parish School Superintendent Jason VanMetre said the event was impressive.

“All these kids get to see the opportunities, build skills for interviewing, apply for scholarships, take headshots. They get to hear, ‘This is what is going to be expected of you during an interview, here’s how to dress, this is what will be expected if you’re working at a plant.’ They can learn there’s places for them they didn’t even know about.”

VanMetre said the event also serves as an example of how great Southwest Louisiana is — especially groups like the Lake Area Industry Alliance and the Community Foundation of Southwest Louisiana, which sponsored the event to help develop the local workforce and build the next generation of leaders who will continue to strengthen the area’s industry.

“These opportunities don’t exist in every city,” he said. “When you look at all the projected projects coming to this area in the next 10 years, it’s substantial. There’s a workforce they’re going to be looking to fill and it’s these kids right here that they’re going to be looking to fill it with.”

Theresa Delafosse, Louisiana DEQ Undersecretary, served as keynote speaker at the event.

“I love the opportunity to bring the young folks together and make sure they are aware of the opportunities in STEM and in the area and in industry throughout Louisiana — and I love to be supportive of other women,” she said. “I feel like my career has absolutely been helped by the relationships and people I’ve met along the way and I always encourage others to keep your contacts up and make sure you call on folks and build those relationships because that can’t be replicated elsewhere.”

Delafosse said she knows how it feels to be the only woman in the room in the workplace.

“You’ve got to be strong and own the path that you’ve taken and know you are every bit as worthy to be there,” she said.

Delafosse said after earning her undergraduate degree in accounting, she went to law school and jumped at the chance to work in the state auditor’s office upon graduation.

“I worked there five years and I made contacts at other agencies and was able to obtain a financial officer position at the Louisiana Department of Revenue and from there those contacts brought me to the next level where I was able to move over to the Department of Environmental Quality. It’s busy, but it’s good busy.”

She said state careers have “always lent themselves well to women and being a player in that is very rewarding and you feel like you’re making a difference on a day-to-day basis.”

“Women can do anything and everything, they’re strong and they can handle it all and I look forward to seeing what all of y’all do in your futures.”