For the first time ever, an all-women snow crew helped clear Washington County roads as they took the wheel of a snowplow following the recent winter storm.<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON COUNTY, ARKANSAS, Ark. \u2014 For the first time, an all-woman crew helped clear snowy conditions in Washington County. \u00a0<\/p>\n
Officials say “they\u2019re not just clearing icy roads…they\u2019re shattering ice ceilings.\u201d<\/p>\n
Equipment operator Leah Windle says she is filled with pride, not just for making history, but for getting to do the job she loves every day.<\/p>\n
Alongside Windle are sisters Chloe and Dellanie Weir, third-generation heavy equipment operators who say they chose the career not because of gender, but because of admiration and passion for the work.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cFeels great honestly, I love being a heavy equipment operator. I remember watching my dad do it, and I wanted to,” Dellanie Weir said.<\/p>\n
Their father, Matt Weir, a field superintendent with nearly three decades of experience, says he was thrilled when his daughters decided to follow in his footsteps. Over his career, he says he\u2019s only seen about two women in the field \u2014 until now.<\/p>\n
While proud of his daughters for making history, he says he\u2019s not surprised.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey can do anything I can do,\u201d Matt Weir said. \u201cSo it don\u2019t surprise me.\u201d<\/p>\n
Even after working 13 and 14-hour shifts clearing snow, Windle and the Weir sisters say it never feels like work because of the support they receive from their crew.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like having a bunch of brothers,\u201d Windle said.<\/p>\n
For Chloe and Dellanie, often working alongside their father makes the job feel even more like home.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s like a family,\u201d Chloe Weir said. \u201cWe work hard, we have fun, but it\u2019s a great place to work.\u201d<\/p>\n
The crew hopes their visibility will inspire other women to pursue careers traditionally dominated by men. Dellanie says she\u2019s learned more than she ever expected on the job and wants other women to see what\u2019s possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhen I first started here, I realized there are a lot of skills that transfer over,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"For the first time ever, an all-women snow crew helped clear Washington County roads as they took the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":438156,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4,450,451,3,452,453],"class_list":["post-438155","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-breaking-news","tag-breaking-news","tag-breakingnews","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438155","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=438155"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/438155\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/438156"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=438155"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=438155"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=438155"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}