Image Credit: CFJC Today / Chad Klassen

By Chad Klassen

TRU CARPENTRY CAMP

Young girls get hands-on carpentry experience at TRU

Jul 25, 2019 | 5:18 PM

KAMLOOPS — A group of school-aged girls in Kamloops have been getting their hands dirty all this week at TRU’s School of Trades and Technology.

They’ve been helping to build a playhouse, all the while learning about the basics, as simple as hammering a nail. They’ve also been getting hands-on experience using a saw, learning about the importance of precise measuring, and mastering the art of drilling the screws in the right place.

“It’s been really fun and exciting,” said participant Piper Marshall. “I used to do stuff like this with my dad.”

Another participant Lucia Neuls, added, “[Learning] all the different words like flush and straight. I didn’t know what they meant before, but now I know they are so important.”

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The girls, aged 11 to 15, are taking part in a carpentry camp this week at TRU.

“Some of them do have a little bit of experience, whether it’s been with high school woodworking on with their parents at home, and some of them have absolutely no experience, have never picked up a hammer before,” said instructor Tully Journeay, who teaches at TRU and NorKam.

The camp is free for the kids, funded by the Industry Training Authority (ITA). It wants to encourage more women to get into the trades. Across Canada, less than four per cent of tradespeople are women.

“For the young girls in the camps, it’s exposure to the different trades that would be available to them as careers in the future,” said ITA equity programs manager Tara Fong. “Just to open up women’s perspectives of what would be available.”

The Industry Training Authority says there are still barriers for women to get into trades and stay there, including the construction culture that is dominated by men.

“Sometimes women need to take their first name off an application because they won’t even be considered for a role,” noted Fong. “A lot of time, employers are worried they’re going to go on maternity leave. If they have a family, they’re not going to come back. That’s a similar situation for men as well.”

The playhouse will be finished on Friday and be ready for the kids at Cariboo Child Care Centre. The girls are excited knowing their work is going to a good cause.

“I’m so happy that it’s going to make some children happy,” said Neuls. “It’s been so much fun building, and it’s a win-win scenario.”