Wisconsin Life

guitar strumming

When I was young, I didn't know what I wanted to do. What I saw there were a whole lot of adults around me who hated their jobs. And I did not want to hate what I did. And so for me, this is perfect. My name is Sandy Thistle. I'm co-program director of Construction and Remodeling at Madison College and organizer of CampBUILD.

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saw whirring

CampBUILD, right now, after our first year, is a Girl Scout camp delivered to introduce girls of every age to the skilled trades and in particular, welding, electrical, carpentry, and design. So, this year, that was our focus. And every single camper experienced all of those things.

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CampBUILD ranges from Kindergarten to 12th graders. It's divided into five different age groups.

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They built birdhouses. They actually got to drill some of the holes.

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And then, built toolboxes and sawed with a handsaw.

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The middle schoolers really were amazing. I taught every single middle schooler how to use a circular saw safely. And they blew my mind. I underestimated them. And I don't think I tend to underestimate girls, but they were focused, they were brave, they were patient, they listened really well, they helped each other, and holy cow, were they amazing.

drill whirring

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One of my fallback activities is how you find power in your swing driving a nail. And really, it's 'cause you get to wail on things really hard and people don't get a chance to do that very often. So giving them a little guidance around that feels useful and it feels like fun.

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I am always thinking how do we broaden who represents carpenters? And believing that in order to see themselves in this role, girls need to see women who do this work. Gender, it's such a construct, right? We all do what we want and what makes us happy and what we're good at. And we each have a niche where we have a strength and how they fit together is really brilliant.

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I'm hoping that I'm around long enough to establish CampBUILD and that there continues to be a need and that the world expands and we really change the shape of who does this work out in the field. For me, this has been an incredibly satisfying career. I love being a carpenter. I love so many parts of it. And I feel lucky to have found it. And I think it's hard to find for girls. There we go.

Sandy

And I want it to be easier for them to find so that they could potentially-- I'm gonna flush this end up-- love what they do to the same level that I do.

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