By JEFFARAH GIBSON

Tribune Features Writer
jgibson@tribunemedia.net

BAHAMIAN civil engineer Racquel Greene’s recent accomplishment of being named ‘Employee of the Year’ at the Ministry of Works and Urban Development came after 16 years of hard work – years during which she had to constantly prove herself in a field dominated by men.

In addition to being named ‘Employee of the Year’ for 2012/13, Ms Greene was also selected as the first runner-up in the ‘National Public Service Officer of the Year’ category. Annually, Officers of the Year from the different government ministries compete before a panel of judges for the title of ‘National Public Officer of the Year’. This was Ms Greene’s first time being named ‘Employee of the Year’ and being nominated for the ‘National Public Officer of the Year’.
Receiving accolades or a pat on the back was not something Ms Greene concerned herself with when she first started working as a civil, structural and building services engineer with the Ministry of Works and Urban Development in 1996. She focused her attention on making sure she possessed the skills necessary and was equipped for the task of supervising, designing and inspecting buildings and providing engineering.

Ms Greene supervises the air-conditioning workshop, which is responsible for the maintenance and servicing air-conditioning systems in more than 150 government buildings throughout New Providence and the Family Islands. She also designs and inspects structural, mechanical and electrical systems within government buildings.

“We have a number of women working in this section of the ministry, but the men outnumber the women by far,” Ms Greene said.

“The journey has come with its challenges. As a woman, people always question whether the knowledge you have is genuine. And in the beginning I had to prove I was capable of doing my job and completing the tasks I was given. After I did that they began to see that I was fit for the job.

“The journey has been such a humbling experience and everything we do is a team effort. Although I may be the one shining, the other people I work along with have a played pivotal part in us being able to achieve what we achieve on a daily basis,” she said.

Ms Greene’s success today as a civil engineer stemmed from interest she developed as a child. Ms Greene said she was known “Mrs Fix It”, even in her younger years. Whenever something went wrong with home appliances, she tried to rectify the problem.

“I was inquisitive. I wanted to know why things were not working. I always found a way to make them work. When my parents saw I had an interest in fixing things they steered me in that direction,” she said.
Ms Greene’s first formal education in the field of engineering began in 1988, at the College of the Bahamas, where she obtained an Associate of Arts Degree in Construction Engineering. Eight years later she obtained a Bachelor of Science Degree in Civil Engineering with an emphasis in Structural Engineering at Howard University in Washington, DC.

In 2008, she went on to pursue a Master of Science in Building Services Engineering at the Loughborough University in the United Kingdom. She excelled and was graduated with a distinction in the programme. She was awarded a M.Sc. in Building Services Engineering and a monetary prize for the best dissertation for 2009. The dissertation explored the effects of carbon dioxide on students within the classrooms.
As a part-time lecturer in the Natural Science and Technology School at COB, Ms Greene hopes to one day start her own programme for perspective engineering students.

“I am trying to do as much as I can. You cannot sit down and wait on things to happen for you, sometimes you have to get out there and make things happen on your own. I am interested in bringing people with me on this journey. It has been a wonderful experience so far,” Ms Greene told Tribune Woman.

Ms Greene is an engineer in training with the Florida Board of Professional Engineers since 2000. She is also a member of various civic and cultural organisations including Toastmasters International (District 47, Area F, Club 7178), the Bahamas Society of Engineers, American Society of Engineers, Institute of Civil Engineers and Chartered Institute of Building Services Engineers. In most of these organisations, she helps the poor and assists in reading books to primary school children. She also provides Christmas presents to children in need and spends quality time with the children at the Ranfurly Home.