Power Girls Unite!: Torching, Wiring, Soldering and Exploring Nontraditional Careers
Last month, middle and high school girls in Girls Inc. programs at YWCA Minneapolis attended the Power Girls! workshop at Dunwoody Technical College. Power Girls! is a partnership between Construction Careers Foundation and YWCA Minneapolis. The workshop allowed girls to explore nontraditional jobs in the trades guided by tradeswomen.
Making Copper Lamps
Women who worked in various trades from construction to plumbing volunteered to assist the girls in different projects. The projects included creating copper lamps, learning about wiring, electricity and soldering copper pipes. These projects allowed for fun hands-on learning – the youth learned what it takes to build pipes in our plumbing systems and how our light switches work effortlessly!
Soldering and Torching
An exciting part of the day was seeing how bold the girls were when it came to operating intimidating tools. When asked if the girls were excited to solder, their faces beamed as they all yelled, “YES!” It was impressive to see them operate torches with excellent focus and strong confidence.
Asking Career Questions
They were also able to ask many career questions to the volunteers, such as what the fun parts of their jobs were and how many years of school they needed to be qualified for their profession.
All the Girls Inc. participants walked away from Dunwoody with their hands full of their own creations and proud smiles.