As pupils prepare to start their Leaving Cert in just a few days, we are hearing from young people who took alternative paths to the CAO.
An apprentice electrician - who also happens to be the Laois Rose - hopes that she can highlight to young women that a trade is a great career option for them.
Katelyn Cummins grew up on a dairy farm in Co Kilkenny and now lives and works in Laois. She has always enjoyed working with her hands, and going to college never appealed to her.
A self-professed "girly-girl", Katelyn was the only young woman in her apprenticeship class.
"It's not something you hear about every day, a woman going into a male-dominated trade, but you can still do it no matter what and I wasn’t treated any differently," she said.
When Katelyn was selected to be the Laois Rose earlier this year, she saw it as a great opportunity to make friends with other women her age.
"I don’t meet them in my workplace, so it’s been incredible because I've met such amazing girls and made really good friends with a few of them now, so I'm delighted with that," she explained.
Katelyn said people are often surprised when she tells them she is an apprentice electrician.
"When they see me at an event in a dress, they’re like, 'And you’re supposed to be an electrician?’ And it’s like, ‘Yes, I wear work pants and a baggy hoody every day, that’s my normal wear, but at the weekends I'm in a dress, I love my makeup and doing my hair, its two different sides to me."
In 2024, a record 9,352 new apprentices registered across 77 different offerings, according to SOLAS.
Katelyn hopes to see more women and girls consider exploring the apprenticeships available to them.
"Anything that makes you happy is worthwhile doing, no matter if it’s going to college, doing an apprenticeship, a PLC course, there’s something out there for everybody and it doesn’t have to be the traditional route of college," she said.
"I think look into the trades like carpentry, plumbing, electrical - they are all crying out for people to join that industry and whether you’re a woman or a man, you can still do it no matter what."
