Greetings from the wintery North! We are 3 days into our “Skills Work!” Tour
and the snow hasn’t stopped falling since we arrived!
About the Tour: 200 Young Women from
different northern communities - 8 Women in Trades (Role Models) - Together for
4 days in 2 northern communities - Engaging in hands on experience of the
trades and envisioning the trades as viable career choices
Role Models: Hailing
from Regina, Saskatoon and La Ronge (left to right) –
Lori Bell, Aircraft Maintenance Engineer; Devin West, Carpenter; Pat Fayant,
Carpenter;
Diane West, Carpenter; Andrea Dorosh, Carpenter; Rhealene Wagner, Machinist,
and Valerie Overend, Carpenter (missing from photo).
Diane West, Carpenter; Andrea Dorosh, Carpenter; Rhealene Wagner, Machinist,
and Valerie Overend, Carpenter (missing from photo).
Our first day of the conference was held in
La Ronge at the Senator
Myles Venne
School . We had girls from La Ronge, Air Ronge, Hall
Lake, Stanley Mission, and Grandmother’s Bay join us in the school gymnasium
where they were immediately broken up into groups of 8 with our Role Models,
and formed our teams for the day: the Cat’s Paws, Monkey Wrenches, Fish Tapers,
Crow Bars, Saw Horses, and Alligator Clippers.
In no time at all we had the girls ‘on the tools’ in
our ‘Try-a-Trade’ activity. Within just
2 hours they were putting together forms for concrete, pouring concrete into
their forms to make tiles, and decorating their tiles at the ‘Mosaic Station’. The girls worked with metal at the ‘Sheet Metal
Station’ where they made charms for the bracelets they made at the ‘Electrical
Connectors Station’ (which offered an introduction to the electrical trade). Last but not least the girls learned to cut
and file copper tubing into fashionable rings at the ‘Copper Pipe Station’,
giving them a little taste of the plumbing trade.
Building Tile Mosaics!
It was a fun and busy morning! Everyone had their favorite station, and by
the afternoon I had conversations with many of the girls who expressed interest
in attending school for the trades!
With some food in our bellies we ventured
into our next big activity for the day – an engineering challenge called “Junk
Yard Wars”. Here the girls really had to
put on their thinking caps and problem solving skills. Each team was given the same set of
instructions and materials and about 1½ hours to build a bridge which would
function under the weight of a heavy lead pipe, their ‘vehicle’, travelling
over it. Each team rendered a successful
bridge, and amazingly all had their own unique designs. Such a great reminder that no two minds think
alike! The girls had a chance to show
off their creations to each other and a panel of judges in a ‘face-off’ for 1st,
2nd, and 3rd place!
There were a lot of big smiles by the end
of the day. Lots of great prizes were
handed out throughout the day thanks to the many donations made by our sponsors
for the event. What a successful start
to our tour!
Here’s what some of the girls had to say
about their day:
“It
was awesome! I loved it!”
“The
activities were fun, nice meeting new people and trying new things.”
“The
workshop was fun and really awesome! It
was the funnest day ever!”
“Inspired
by the women that prove they can do anything like men and even better!”
Great Job Girls! Thanks for all your hard work!
Next
up: We’re northbound
to Buffalo Narrows , where I’m sure we’ll encounter
even more fluffy white stuff! Stay
tuned!
Junk Yard Wars - The teams developing their strategies
and assembling their masterpieces!