Kate Keaney says it’s her dream to help boost the number of women in the trades.
Keaney was awarded first place in Cambrian College’s annual Student Innovation Challenge.
The program, which carries a $3000 purse for the winner, gives students a chance to pitch their ideas, innovations, products or services to a panel of college and industry experts.
Keaney, whose idea is called Rosie Construction and Renovations – a company that supports and hires women in trades – says she’s noticed first-hand how difficult the industry can be.
“I worked behind the scenes for film, theater, concerts and other entertainment,” Keaney said. “Building and designing set pieces and running electrical. There was such a lack of women there. It was all men.”
Keaney began to reach out to women already in the trades, or those who were contemplating entering the field. The question she had for them was: is there a change you’d like to see?
“Such a common response was the intimidation factor,” Keaney said. “Because not only is there intimidation for the workers, but also for the clientele as well, because usually they assumed that because we’re female, we don’t know what we’re doing or assume that we don’t know what we’re doing.”
Her winning proposal would help not only more women enter the trades, but also close the gap between how many women view it as a viable career. She estimates only 5 per cent of Canadian women choose that field.
“I think having a company like this and having this opportunity for women to kind of have judgment-free work and just a fresh starting point would really help to kind of boost our numbers in the field,” she said.
Charulatha Vijayakumar, an international student from India, won second prize and the Best Use of Technology award for CollSong, a mobile/web app for amateur songwriters, musicians and singers, allowing them to collaborate and share content with other artists around the world.
“The basic idea began when I realized that my mom can really sing well and my dad can write really good lyrics, and I have both of those things inherited, but I don’t know how to compose music to complete that circle,” she said.
“I need to learn music by playing keyboard and all that. But then I thought, why should I do the third part? What if I can find the other person and be able to collaborate without learning all of them?
Vijayakumar said she thinks there’s a lot of people like her who may have one or more talents, but not the ability to put a whole composition together.
That’s where her app comes in.
“This will be a forum where people can find the other people and they can just be the best at whatever they have got,” she said.
Xiangxu Teng, an international student from China, won third prize for STU Hub, an app that provides support for international students seeking assistance as they settle into their new country, city and neighbourhoods.
The idea for the app was driven by Teng’s own experience arriving in Canada.
“When I was new here, I really didn’t know how to find a rental house, or how to apply for a part-time job,” Teng said. “I had so many questions…and it took me a long time to get the answers because no one helped me.”
Added to the difficulty, was Teng’s lack of a support group, either in-person or online.
“You know, in China we don’t use Instagram or Twitter or Facebook or some other social apps which are popular in Canada,” Teng said. “So I basically knew nothing.”
Teng’s app would offer support, information or how-to guides that would bridge the gap between what international students learn about before they arrive, and the day-to-day intricacies of life on campus.
“I think if every international student knew about that [app,] they download it, and there will always be someone who is willing to help.”
