[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.
[saw scraping]
[tape measure clicks]
[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.
[saw scraping]
[upbeat music]
CampBUILD
ranges from Kindergarten to 12th graders.
It's divided into five different age groups.
[drill whirring]
They built birdhouses.
They actually got to drill some of the holes.
[drill whirring]
And then, built toolboxes
and sawed with a handsaw.
[saw squeaks]
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]
[upbeat music]
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.
[hammer pounding]
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.
[pleasant music]
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.
[pleasant music]