Girls Build Summer Camp

This summer the daughters of Ausland team members Katie Johnson and Kate Miller participated in the Girls Build Camp in Grants Pass. Girls Build is an organization which holds after school-programs and camps for girls ages 8-14 where they are taught the basics of construction. Some topics include carpentry, painting, plumbing, and electrical.

The camp was founded by Katie Hughes, a carpenter who noticed she was the only woman on a lot of construction sites. She began teaching classes for young girls on how to drill, saw, and weld. Today, Girls Build has grown to include summer camps across Oregon that have hosted hundreds of girls.

Katie and Kate’s daughters, Hayden and Eva, attended a one-week camp. They participated in four 80-minute workshops a day. All workshops were taught by women who work in the construction industry. In just one week the girls completed numerous projects including a pinball machine, wooden flute, flashlight, a planter box and many more.

Organizations like Girls Build are important because, “Once girls get to middle and high school, they don’t have the same opportunities that boys do to get accustomed to working with their hands” says Kate. “It’s about giving girls that experience so that once they are in a coed environment, they can make that choice to take those shop classes or go even further.”

In the male-dominated field of construction, camps like Girls Build give young girls the confidence and experience to pursue paths in construction and design-related fields starting at a young age. Congratulations to Hayden and Eva, the next generation of Oregon builders!