AGCVA Members in the News
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Read Branch Group Hosts Workforce Event for Girls Ages 5-18
Branch (Roanoke District) hosted their 2nd Annual G.I.R.L. Construction Experience on Saturday, Oct. 7. This free community event gave girls ages 5-18 the opportunity to explore various construction, engineering, and architecture concepts in a fun, safe, and judgment-free zone. 200 kids had a great time completing hands-on activities, provided by Branch and their 35 partners.
Kids were able to:
- Learn about air flow and cooling by making their own mini air conditioners from a milk carton, ice, and USB powered fan.
- Experience being lifted 160 feet in the air in a boom lift.
- Operate a real mini-excavator, knocking tennis balls off of cones.
- Operate a giant excavator via simulator.
- Learn to build and complete an electrical circuit (CED) and about how to conduct electricity.
- Learn about waste water, water run-off safety, water hydrants and hydraulics, and soil preservation.
- Experience using power tools, and how to correctly use a hammer.
Branch is committed to providing experiences to showcase opportunities to girls and young women, as it is critical to building our industry’s future workforce. While some myths have prevailed about careers in construction, we have seen a resurgence in interest from educators, parents, and kids-especially girls. Branch sent surveys out to the parents of the participants and received very positive feedback.
We asked parents what their favorite part of the event was and here is what a couple of them had to say:
“I have a girly girl to her core and most of the activities she participated in at the event were not something she would ever dream of doing. I loved seeing how much she wanted to learn about circuits and electricity, and the simple act of making a marshmallow shooter showed her that she can gather parts and make something on her own that works. I just asked her if being a construction worker is more for boys or girls and looked at me like I'm crazy and said ‘it's for both,’ so there's that.”
“I think it opened a door into fields that she had not thought of before. She is a talented artist and I don't think she realized how much that ability weaves its way into fields like architecture, engineering and design.”
Learn more about the experience here.
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