“The fact that I'm young and a woman and with an arts background means some people don't take me seriously. They say I can't lift heavy things or I'm too slow, but once they see that I'm serious about my job they really try to mentor me. I've learned I'd rather work with men,” she added.

The welding clothes are another problem. Most welding clothing companies don't carry men's sizes small enough for women.

“I went to the tool crib where they have our supplies to pick up my welding clothes. They asked, ‘what size welding jacket?’ I told them ‘a small,’” she said. They didn't have a small, so Harrill had to settle for a men's medium.

“I've been walking around in oversized jackets and gloves ever since. The gloves are a joke,” she said.

Even with those challenges, Harrill is glad she took this step, and considers it one of the best decisions she's made for her life.

While there's still some people who won't accept her, which she said gets annoying, Harrill has discovered her dancing comes in handy: “You've got to learn to dance around people who try to get in your way,” she said.

“I'll always love dance and I plan to go back some day, but I just needed something more to get on with my life and figure out some way to not be poor. I'll call [the dance troupe] back when I'm not poor anymore,” she said.

ABC Names Florida Welder Craft Professional of the Year

Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), a national association that represents nearly 25,000 merit shop construction and construction-related firms in 78 chapters across the United States, gave its Craft Professional of the Year award to Jennifer Jeffords, a certified welder, welding inspector and welding instructor for BE&K Industrial Services at International Paper's plant in Pensacola, Fla.

The award was made during the association's 2008 National Convention in San Juan, Puerto Rico.

“I am proud to honor Jennifer Jeffords with ABC's most prestigious craft award,” Bill Fairchild, president of R.W. Murray Co., Manassas, Va., said. Fairchild is the 2008 ABC National chairman.

“Jennifer's dedication to becoming one of the nation's top welders and her generosity serving as a mentor and teacher for others in her field have made her an outstanding choice for this year's award,” Fairchild said.

Jeffords achieved Level II Quality Assurance/Quality Control certification, in addition to three levels of welding certification: Structural, stick pipe and tungsten inert gas (TIG) arc welding. She also holds National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER) certification as a core curriculum instructor and welding instructor, and serves as an instructor at BE&K's training center.

Jeffords has received certificates of training from BE&K Inc., in the National Board Inspection Code and the company's Visual Inspection Procedure for Nondestructive Evaluation.

Jeffords was encouraged to enter the field of welding by her husband of 21 years, Lee, who is also a skilled welder.

Jeffords recently served as a member of the BE&K project team responsible for converting the Number 5 paper machine at International Paper's Cantonment, Fla., mill to 500,000 thousand tons per year of unbleached liner board from producing 350 tons per year of white writing-quality paper.

During the shutdown, the team installed 72,000 linear feet of pipe and more than 65,000 linear feet of tubing to convert the machine.