LANNON — Maybe this will come as a surprise, but to operate 15-foot tall, multi-ton, giant mining equipment, you don't need a certification. Anyone can do it. So when a recent high school graduate from Slinger heard about the opportunity to work on a quarry and use heavy machinery, she left her job at a fast food restaurant to begin the next phase of her career.
Jayme Slavik, 19, is a miner for Lannon Stone Products. She works at the quarry on Good Hope Road in Lannon. She has been there for a little over a year.
"Knowing I have a really good job at a really young age that could get me farther in life, I'm really happy about it," Slavik said.
She is one of the few women who work on the quarry floor. During the busy season, she drives giant trucks and moves about 70 tons of Lannon stone, a type of limestone, every few minutes. During the winter months when business slows down, she does equipment maintenance which includes grinding and welding.
According to the World Bank in 2024, women make up just about 15 percent of the global mining workforce. Slavik wants to encourage other women like her to try the trade.
"Being a female in the trades, it's definitely a lot different. And I'm just an example of how it's okay to try something new," she said.
Slavik never thought she would work at a mine after high school. She didn't even know Lannon Stone Products existed. Slavik was working at a Burger King when she was told about this job. Now, she's incredibly happy with where she landed and isn't looking back.
"I hope to retire here."
She got the job at Lannon Stone Products through the company's initiative. It actively recruits recent high school graduates and does all the training at its own facilities.
"Unlike most industries, you don't have to go through an apprenticeship program. You don't have to go through DOT training. You don't have to go through certifications or anything along those lines," Nate Swinton, the development director, at Lannon Stone Products, said.
Across the country, there is a massive need for skilled tradespeople. This is one of the ways to close that gap.
"Honestly what it is, is for a generation and a half a lot of us adults in America taught kids that if you go into the trades you're going to be dirty and poor. And that was only half true. If you go the trades, you're going to get dirty. Your hands are going to get dirty, and your clothes are going to get dirty. But you don't have to be poor," Swinton said.
There is a cohort of about six people in their late teens and early 20s who joined thanks to this initiative. In just a matter of weeks, new employees can be working all around the quarry.
Swinton added more than half of its employees began working with the quarry company at a young age. However, now as those longtime employees get closer to retirement, Lannon Stone Products needs to hire new people to fill those vacancies.
"Mining is such a niche industry that there aren't a lot of big educational programs in the public sector to help people how to do mining, so we do all of that in-house," Swinton said.
Jayme Slavik was the recipient of that training. She was welcomed into the company with open arms and all her co-workers have made the transition into the trade easy.
"I love the guys that I work with. I love the equipment. I love getting out onto the plant, doing something new. Anywhere you go on the plant will be something different," she said.
Slavik hopes she inspires other women to take the leap into mining, welding, or another skilled trade. So while she's loading these trucks, she's not just doing a job she loves—she's hoping to clear a path for other young women to break into the industry.
You can find open jobs on the Lannon Stone Product website.
Watch Jayme's story to see what it looks like to work in a quarry...
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