BACK FOR A THIRD DEGREE Photos & Story | Kira Crow
Getting a degree in a male-dominated workforce can be intimidating. Trinity Sampson, Abilene, has done this twice and is currently working on her third degree in a predominantly male workforce. Sampson graduated with her degree in auto mechanics in the summer of 2020, and then graduated in May of 2021 with a degree in collision repair and finishing. She is currently on her third degree, as she has returned this fall to pursue a criminal justice degree at Hutchinson Community College. “I had always wanted to be in law enforcement since I was a little kid and then in high school I really loved the automotive industry inside of things.” Since graduating, Sampson has used her degree to work in a body shop at a car dealership. She also uses her degree to fix up her and her friends’ cars. Occasionally, she visits the car shop in Hutchinson High School to work on cars there.
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Is she intimidated by the maledominated workforce? Sampson said, “For sure. Primarily because many people were warning me a lot about, you know, customers coming in and they might not appreciate a female working on their car because they don’t think a female knows what they’re doing. But my teachers, especially in the collision field said that women doing auto body actually have almost like an eye for it, so it’s easier for them in some aspects especially when it comes to paint, to see imperfections and stuff like that.” According to the U.S. Department of Consumer Affairs, women make up only 9.7% of the total 1,342,000 employees in the automotive repair and maintenance industry. As for teachers that helped with her degree, Sampson said, “Brad Yoder and Todd McLean were definitely two that helped and I just like [not only] learning what to do, but also the encouragement aspect.” Yoder has been teaching at HutchCC and Hutch High School
Photo | Kira Crow Trinity Sampson, Abilene, sands a spot on a car door that formerly had a dent in it. She worked at the car shop inside Hutchinson High School.
for 22 years. He had Sampson in his classes from 2019-2022. What stands out about her from other students? Yoder was quickly cut off by Sampson as she said, “Choose your words wisely.” “What made her really good is she paid attention, listened, and did what she was supposed to do. She really did she did a good job of that. I mean, that’s obviously what we’re looking for from anybody, but she did a really good job at that. She paid attention to details and did what she was supposed to do,” Yoder said. “I could go on forever but [she] understood what finished was, so if she said she
| Dragon’s Tale | March 2022
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