{"id":106929,"date":"2018-09-11T08:04:11","date_gmt":"2018-09-11T13:04:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thevwindependent.com\/news\/?p=106929"},"modified":"2018-09-11T08:04:11","modified_gmt":"2018-09-11T13:04:11","slug":"students-hear-from-successful-women","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/2018\/09\/11\/students-hear-from-successful-women\/","title":{"rendered":"Students hear from successful women"},"content":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/<\/strong>independent editor<\/em><\/p>\n

A group of eighth grade Cougar Leaders from Van Wert Middle School were at the YWCA of Van Wert County on Monday to learn about economic advancement as it pertains to women in the workforce.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Van Wert City Schools Superintendent Vicki Brunn talks about her career during an Economic Advancement luncheon at the YWCA of Van Wert County.<\/strong> photos by Dave Mosier\/Van Wert independent<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The eighth-graders, a few boys but mostly girls, were first welcomed by Kelly Houg, the YWCA\u2019s marketing director, who spoke about economic equality for women, noting that Equal Pay Day — the day women make as much as men who do the same jobs did at the end of a year (December 31) — was April 10 of this year, more than three months later.<\/p>\n

Equality of pay and being treated the same in the workplace is what economic advancement is all about for women, Houg noted.<\/p>\n

The students then had the opportunity to hear from four women who held positions of responsibility, including Libby Gardner, who spent nearly a decade in the military; Van Wert Economic Development Director Stacy Adam, Van Wert City Schools Superintendent Vicki Brunn, and Candy Lammers, who runs her own general contracting company.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Libby Gardner talks about her military career in the United States Army.<\/strong><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Gardner noted that she first became interested in the military after seeing the television program \u201cMaking of a Marine\u201d, but chose the United States Army as her military branch of choice.<\/p>\n

Noting she was married at the time, Gardner said she talked it over with her then-husband, as well as family members, before making the decision to enlist.<\/p>\n

She added that it wasn\u2019t easy at first to get men to treat her as an equal, noting that women had fewer opportunities in the service then than they have now.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing I discovered when I joined was that there were a lot of men that didn\u2019t want to line up with women,\u201d Gardner noted. \u201cI had to earn their respect, but they didn\u2019t have to earn mine. They thought they already had it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She also noted that later on that, when she was single again, some men she dated felt threatened by a woman in the military, that it made them less masculine somehow. Gardner told the students that, when it comes to physical training, women are built differently than men, they are not inferior to men, and can even do some things, like sit-ups, better than men.<\/p>\n

Gardner said she appreciated the fact that her community was always behind her while she was in the military.<\/p>\n

Adam, who first broke barriers as a branch manager, and later a vice president, for a Fortune 500 company, Chemlawn, before getting into economic development.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just went to work and did my job,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

One advantage she had growing up, Adam noted, was a father who was very supportive of what she did.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy father encouraged me so much that I didn\u2019t think of being a female in a male world,\u201d she told the students.<\/p>\n

Adam also said she learned early on a way to earn equal pay to the men who were in similar positions, noting that she would get her boss to agree to give her an incentive bonus for meeting goals she set that were higher than the men were asked to do. She then met the goals.<\/p>\n

Adam told the students that, while life isn\u2019t always fair, women today have more control than they think they do.<\/p>\n

Brunn said she also had a father who supported and encouraged her.<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than anyone, my father made me believe that I could do what I wanted to do,\u201d she noted.<\/p>\n

Joking that she still didn\u2019t know what she wanted to be when she grew up, Brunn said she did a number of thinks, including operating a stud farm, before deciding to be a teacher. The decision to become an administrator came after she saw changes she would like to make in education.<\/p>\n

The VWCS superintendent told the students that it didn\u2019t matter what they wanted to do, but recommended that they have a passion for whatever it is they wanted to do,<\/p>\n

\u201cYou have to really discover what you\u2019re passionate about,\u201d Brunn said.<\/p>\n

She also said that, in education, while there are more women teachers than men, as she climbed the administrative ladder as a principal and then a superintendent, there were fewer and fewer women in those positions.<\/p>\n

Brunn also noted that she did get some pushback over the years as she was promoted.<\/p>\n

At one school district where she was hired as a principal, one male board member told her she was the first woman principal in the district.<\/p>\n

Her answer? \u201cI said it\u2019s about time,\u201d Brunn noted, while telling students they need to follow their dreams in life. \u201cI worked hard to move up the ladder and here I am, a superintendent; I don\u2019t think I ever expected to move up that far.\u201d<\/p>\n

Candy Lammers was the last speaker. Lammers, who began as a laborer in the construction business at the suggestion of her husband, later worked as subcontractor, a project manager, and just recently started her own general contracting business, CSL Contracting.<\/p>\n

She told the students that they should look for a career, not just a job.<\/p>\n

\u201cMake a difference; it\u2019s not easy, it\u2019s hard,\u201d Lammers said, but also noted that it\u2019s rewarding, noting that she was the only woman, along with 110 men, who worked on the Niswonger Performing Arts Center and high school-middle school project at Van Wert.<\/p>\n

\u201cHere I was a construction manager on a $54 million school project,\u201d Lammers added. \u201cIt was a lot of responsibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lammers also noted that, when men rejected her as a work partner early in her career, \u201cit puts a little fire under you\u201d.<\/p>\n

Houg ended the program by challenging the girls to support and empower each other in the workforce, while also telling the boys they also need to provide support to women in the workplace.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

DAVE MOSIER\/independent editor A group of eighth grade Cougar Leaders from Van Wert Middle School were at the YWCA of Van Wert County on Monday to learn about economic advancement as it pertains to women in the workforce. The eighth-graders, a few boys but mostly girls, were first welcomed by Kelly Houg, the YWCA\u2019s marketing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-106929","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-24 14:08:05","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106929","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=106929"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/106929\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=106929"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=106929"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thevwindependent.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=106929"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}