Watch above: Saskatchewan Polytechnic hopes to put vision and potential right in front of young girls thinking about their future careers. Katylnn Millions reports.
SASKATOON – Saskatchewan Polytechnic hopes to put vision and potential in front of young girls thinking about their future careers. A group of girls from Grades 6 to 8 ended their experience at the camp Friday by racing soap box cars they made with their own hands.
“They were fantastic designs and everyone was super into it and it was a really good group. They worked together as a group really, really well,” said Devin West, women in trades and technology coordinator at Sask Polytech.
Throughout the week-long Girls Exploring Trades and Technology (GETT) camp a group of young minds learned a variety of new skills. Using hand and power tools, they were taught about carpentry and electricity.
READ MORE: Canada’s best and worst cities to be a woman: report
The purpose is to give them the opportunity to explore the trades.
“It seriously boosts their confidence, from day one … you see a huge boost in confidence, at first they’re really timid, but by the end of the week they’re ‘I can do that’ and doing stuff on their own and realizing that they can do it,” said West.
“It was lots of fun cause you got to see how everything is made. Putting the wheels on was pretty hard, cause you have to do a lot of screwing and then holding cause the rod can’t move,” said Emma Skotheim, camp participant.
GETT has been around for more than two decades and enlightens young girls about the variety of career choices they can choose from.
“Women represent about four per cent in the trades and it hasn’t fluctuated very much in a long time so anything that we can do to boost the viability of trades as an option; it’s great,” said West.
“I’m a journey person carpenter and I left social work to be a carpenter and for me there was no going back. I’m passionate about it and I just want other people to be as well.”
Katylnn Millions contributed to this story.
Comments