BOZEMAN — Did you know this week is Women in Construction Week? So, what better way to celebrate than to have construction companies around the Bozeman area come together and host a “girls-only” construction event.

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“I love what I do,” Ilaya Lindquist tells me.

Ilaya graduated from Montana State in 2022 with a degree in mechanical engineering. She tells me it wasn’t uncommon to look around her classes and only see men.

“When I got into Junior, Senior level I was the only girl sitting in most classes,” says Ilaya.

Ilaya now works for Central Plumbing and Heating as a mechanical designer, where she says most of her co-workers are also men. That's why Ilaya was happy to participate at Monday’s “girls only” construction event.

“To be here, to advocate, and be like, ‘Hey there are women who are in construction. We are just as valuable to the company as the guys in the field.’ Or even if you do a field job, there’s still a place for you,” she says.

Ilaya’s station was running a virtual scavenger hunt, where the ladies could explore an HVAC design in a creative way. But that was just one of eight stations available.

“I think events like this are a really great way to show off the women that are thriving in this industry, and they get to share their story,” says Haliee Olsen.

Haliee is the workforce director for the Montana Contractors Association. The association has an education foundation, which funds its workforce initiative called Build Montana. Build Montana partnered with the National Association of Women in Construction to host this event on Monday.

“I put on a lot of these events around Montana,” says Haliee. “And a lot of times even when I reach out to schools and say bring your whole grade or whole class? They all bring just the young men from their shop class."

Which is why for this event, held at SIME construction, Haliee exclusively invited girls grades 6-12, from high schools in Bozeman and the surrounding areas. Some other stations included excavators and 3D modeling, building activities, designing commercial spaces, and they even had a simulator that allowed the ladies to run haul trucks.

For Haliee, who worked at her father’s construction company, R&R Taylor, she hopes to raise awareness by hosting this event.

“Obviously not every single girl that leaves today is going to enter the industry and want to work in construction. But I want them to know that’s an option for them, and it’s not just for boys,” she says.

And I’d say that message came across, considering most of the young woman I spoke to?

“I’m having a really good time. It's interesting to see the different types of construction, and how they all come into one to create things” says one high schooler named Lilly.

And Sage, another high schooler told me, “It’s cool to see there’s a lot more stuff you can do than just like hands-on in construction."

And for Krissy, who had just completed Central Plumbing and Heating’s HVAC tour?

I asked, “Would it make you consider getting into that trade?”

Krissy told me, “Yeah it would actually. Just that little simulation."