RUTLAND, Vt. (WCAX) – A camp in Rutland is helping define young women and give them opportunities to learn about different careers each summer at the MINT Makerspace. Rosie’s Girls is a camp run by women helping to get more girls interested in STEM fields.
“It’s really important. It shows me how to do things and how to behave with all these tools and with teammates,” said Audrey Valadez, an eighth grader at Mill River Union High School.
Valadez will be heading back to school in the fall, but first, she’s welding cutting and hammering her way through the summer at the MINT makerspace.
Throughout the Rosie’s Girls camp, counselors say they challenge sixth- through eighth-grade girls to improve skills that help problem-solving in the future. It also helps them to gain confidence in themselves during a time that organizers say is critical.
“So having that like safe and brave space to both figure out who you are and where you want to be and what are the emotions I’m navigating, this covers all of it,” said Kim Griffin, the executive director of MINT Makerspace.
“I think that’s the biggest takeaway from this camp is seeing from day one being so scared to even touch the chop saw to like, ‘I’ve got this step away I can do this.’ It’s building confidence in them outside of the things that society says they need to be confident in,” said Marissa Arduca, the lead counselor at Rosie’s Girls.
In the camp’s third year at the MINT, giving girls a challenge while opening up their eyes to future careers is a key selling point for both campers and organizers.
“We’ve talked about a lot of STEM and I was already kind of interested in this, but this really kind of inspired me to keep going with it,” said Issabella Classen, a seventh grader at Rutland Town School.
“What we hope from this program is that we at least spark an interest, curiosity in these industries and so that they can get into this building and see all the different makers and see all the different opportunities,” said Rhoni Baden, the executive director of Vermont Works for Women.
The camp is run by women and high school staff. Griffin says making sure young girls know there’s a pathway for them in their future starts with who’s giving them a helping hand.
“When I was this age, when I was a middle-schooler, I didn’t have female representation when I was looking to what my career was going to be, I didn’t have role models,” Griffin said. “Purely representation alone, to be for the young women and gender expansive youth, to see that leadership is huge.”
Vermont Works for Women says they will hold another camp here in Rutland starting July 22, as well as other Rosie’s Girls camps around the state through August.