C-Falls senior toughs it out in a man's

Brooklynn Underwood is a woman in a man’s world. She doesn’t mind it a bit.

“You have to know how to hold your own,” the Columbia Falls High School senior said last week. “Guys can be vulgar. You can’t let them step on you.”

Unlike most girls graduating this year, Underwood took four years of shop, working in the building trades program which molds math, English and a practical trade like home building into one curriculum. She also became an American Welding Society certified welder.

“I like it all,” she said. “It’s all hands on. I’m not a sit-at-a-desk-and learn-it person.”

She doesn’t look the part. She could be a model — even thought about it — but would rather work in a greenhouse or put in a landscape. That’s her plan after high school. She works full time at Columbia Nursery, learning the trade and the myriad of plant species involved. She’s been employed there two years now.

“I really enjoy working with plants,” she said.

Underwood was homeschooled until the eighth grade. She lives on her own and shares a house with a roommate — another facet of life most high school seniors don’t experience until they get into their college years or later.

She enjoys the independence, but she hates doing dishes — her roommate does them. She does the other housecleaning but admits she isn’t much of a cook.

“I’m a more of a cereal person,” she said with a smirk.

After she got her welding certification, she thought about a career in the field but decided otherwise. She’s good at it — she can pick out a good weld from a bad weld at a glance and tell you specifically what’s wrong with it — but it just wasn’t for her. The smoke from welding makes her cough and hack. She said she thinks women are better welders than men.

Underwood isn’t the only female certified welder from the school’s program. Seniors Carlee Brown and Shaylene Fishel and junior Hayden Pierce are all certified. Instructor Ben Schaeffer said the presence of girls is great for the program — and they’re some of his best welders.

“It’s a tough test,” he said. “You only get two attempts or you fail. It’s quite an accomplishment to get certified.”

Underwood said female disposition helps.

“Women tend to be more attentive to details,” she said.

For Underwood, an advantage to the landscaping business is that, while it means long hours during the summer months, a person has winters to themselves and that suits her just fine.

“I love skiing,” she said. “I’ve been skiing since I was six years old.”