Calls from the wind

THE all-male cohort of engineers at Wigton Windfarm Limited, Jamaica’s largest wind energy facility, got a pleasant shake-up with the arrival of Kerry-Gaye McDonald. The vivacious 25-year-old crashed the unofficial boys’ club over a year ago when she became the first female service engineer to join the team assigned to the 62.7 MW plant located in the idyllic mountains of Rose Hill, Manchester.

Her duties include carrying out preventative and corrective servicing and maintenance work on the 44 wind turbines and auxiliary equipment at the wind farm. A graduate of the University of Technology (UTech) where she specialised in electrical engineering, McDonald is presently the only woman to climb the majestic structures which loom as high as 220 ft.

“I love my job. It gives me a feeling of pride and accomplishment to know that I am the only female at work who climbs and maintains wind turbines,” says an enthusiastic McDonald.

Although working at Wigton is a daily adventure, the young engineer had pictured a completely different career path when she was 10 years old. At that time, a third-place finish in the Mini Miss Jamaica competition had her dreaming of winning the ultimate beauty crown as an adult. Then in the early years of high school, her focus shifted to entertainment when she developed a passion for acting.

However, while her interests varied throughout the years, one thing remained constant — her inquiring mind.

“I always wanted to know how things worked,” she recalls. “My father was very handy around the house, always fixing things and changing electrical plugs. This piqued my interest and influenced me to choose vocational studies in high school. I also have a very dexterous mother whose fascinating skill set also pushed me towards studying engineering.”

While acknowledging her parents’ strong influence on her career choice, McDonald’s decision to choose engineering came after “a life-changing encounter” during a Career Day when she was a ninth-grade student at Manchester High School.

“I met a female engineer for the first time — Racquel James — and I was so enamoured by her presentation that it reinforced my belief that engineering was the right career path for me,” she shared.

Although she did not specialise in renewable energy while studying at UTech, McDonald says she had a smooth transition into the wind farm environment as her fellow co-workers provided guidance and support on the job.

Fortunately, she already had a good track record for learning on the job and then excelling in her post, as she was named Best New Employee when she worked with the Mona GeoInformatics Institute as a project coordinator prior to joining Wigton.

“That experience was remarkable for me because I excelled in a field that I had no training in or knew anything about,” McDonald says. She believes her success was largely due to her motto, “Your attitude determines your altitude”, which fuels her consistently positive outlook and willingness to learn.

Taking a similar approach, she is using the opportunities afforded to her at Wigton to increase her knowledge and gain hands-on experience, as her goal is to earn a master’s degree in management and ultimately become a wind energy expert or consultant.

Having mapped out a path for her own future, she has these words of advice for young people making career choices: “When making a decision about what career path to pursue, conduct your research and know what that position entails, then tailor your education towards what you want to do. More importantly, once you’ve decided what you want, do not let anything deter you from your passion. Be persistent in achieving your goals.”