By Libby Tucker
On Tuesday afternoon, 14 middle school girls donned safety glasses and tool belts and gathered around a table for a lesson with a chop saw. They watched closely as teacher Katie Hughes explained how to safely operate the saw so that it cuts wood at the perfect length.
“What does zero degrees mean?” asked Hughes, education director for Oregon Tradeswomen Inc., waiting for an answer. “That’s right, straight up and down.”
Hughes marked the board with her pencil and speed square and lined it up on the saw, explaining everything as she prepared to start the saw. The girls braced for the noise, drawing back from the table and stiffening, and then stared transfixed as the blade sliced through the wood. When the sawdust cleared, the girls crowded around the table to see the result – a clean 7 inches.
Playing with tools isn’t a typical summer activity for middle school and high school girls. But for one full week, Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.’s construction camp is teaching girls how to use a tape measure, swing a hammer, and operate a table saw among many other skills.
OTI, a nonprofit training and mentorship program for women interested in construction, began the camp last year as a way to introduce girls to carpentry, sheet metal, masonry and painting. This year, the camp also included highway trades.
“These girls are in middle school; they’re too young to think about jobs,” said Hughes. “My goal is to show them they’re good at this stuff and they enjoy it.”
This week, 14 middle school girls gathered at the University of Portland campus to finish building a pair of sheds that will be donated to the Portland Parks and Recreation community gardens. High school girls in two previous weeks of the camp framed the sheds, and the middle school girls were putting on the finishing touches.
“I like giving back to the community and all,” said Ingrid Ayala, 16, an 11th-grader from the high school camp who volunteered at the middle school camp. “Last year we made a play house and once you finish, it’s really fun that feeling of accomplishment and just knowing I can do it.”
Ayala offered pointers and helped the girls as they measured boards to make trim for the sheds and carried them to the table for cutting. Now it was their turn to try what they learned.One by one, the girls marked a 2-inch piece of the board, lined it up and chopped it off. They approached the saw cautiously, pulling the trigger and slowly lowering the blade. Some of them jumped when it hit the wood. Onlookers plugged their ears. But afterward, they were all smiles.
“At first I thought it was scary and I would cut my hand off, but I didn’t,” said Rosita Rendon, 12, after her turn at the chop saw. Rendon, who will enter seventh grade this fall, says she’s attending the construction camp because she “wanted to see if women are strong.””Yes,” she said, holding her 2-inch slice of wood. “It was fun.”
Originally published by Libby Tucker.
(c) 2008 Daily Journal of Commerce (Portland, OR). Provided by ProQuest Information and Learning. All rights Reserved.
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