HUNTINGTON -- It's a free program. It requires a time commitment of just 21/2 hours per day for just one semester. And it trains women for good-paying jobs, as well as plenty of tasks around the house -- tasks that would be costly to pay someone else to tackle.

So instructor Jeanie Stevens can't understand why more women don't sign up for her class, the Orientation to Nontraditional Occupations for Women (ONOW).

The class goes on from 12:30 to 2:30 p.m. weekdays at the Cabell County Career Technology Center. It offers training for women in non-traditional occupations, such as carpentry, heating and cooling and welding. Blueprint reading, hand and power tool usage, industrial safety and construction math are aspects of the class as well, all of which can help women get jobs that have traditionally been dominated by men.

It's not too late to register for the class, which begins on Monday, Sept. 15.

The types of women who have gone through the class are many.

Stevens remembers exotic dancers who became a machinist and electrician. She's had waitresses who ended up joining the painters union. She's had homemakers take the class, just so they could be more handy around the house.

"I've had a lot of talented women through here -- they can do anything," Stevens said.

And even those who don't use the program to enter the work force, "To fix your own toilet or rewire an outlet box can save you a fortune," said Jennifer Whittington, a mother of two who completed the program last fall.

Whittington worked in interior decorating and as a massage therapist, among other jobs, in the past. After graduating from the program, however, she became a foreman for Ashland Oil. She got laid off from that job in June, but has recently tested with the carpenters union and tested with a Charleston company to be a chemical operator.

The training from ONOW helped tremendously on the tests, she said, particularly the refresher in math.

"Any test I've taken for any job has been extremely math-oriented," Whittington said. "You don't use it a lot in every day life, but if you get in these jobs, you do."

Beverly Adkins had been trained as a secretary and worked as a seamstress before she decided to attend ONOW classes at age 52, back in 1998.

She ended up with a job at AK Steel, a coke plant in Catlettsburg, Ky., in which she was responsible for unloading and blending coal, connecting and disconnecting rail cars, and other tasks.

"It was a very physical job, but I enjoyed it," said Adkins, who no longer works.

The trouble is that women feel intimidated to enter these professions, she said. They just need to realize that women can do anything they set their minds to, and ONOW helps them come out of their shells.

Whittington agreed.

"You build something (in the ONOW class) and you think, 'Why can't I install my own floor? Why do I need a man to do that?'" she said. "You gain the ability to do your own home renovations."

Women may not be as physically strong as men, but that shouldn't hold them back, Whittington said.

"It's a lot of thinking -- working smarter and not harder," she said.

The good thing about many of these male-dominated jobs is that they pay new workers very well, Stevens said, and they have opportunities for growth. And the bonus for women is that some employers are looking for minorities -- which includes women. Some of those companies contact Stevens and recruit directly from her class. They have come to the Career Technology Center to give their tests there.

To register or for more information, call 304-528-5106.

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