AMY STOCKLEIN
Sandy “Bam Bam” Thistle, left, helps Addison Wurth use a circular saw to cut through a board, while Carly Goodlund steadies the sawhorse. The Girl Scouts made toolboxes at CampBUILD at Madison College.
Standing over a sawhorse, 12-year-old Addison Wurth prepares to cut through a piece of wood with a circular saw. Sandy Thistle, a construction and remodeling instructor at Madison College, coaches Wurth through a safety checklist for using the power tool: “Put your guard on, put your eyeballs down there, and make sure [the saw is] at the right depth,” says Thistle. “Don’t take your hands off the saw. Do not let go of the saw.”
As Thistle continues through the checklist, Wurth hesitates, backing away from the saw. “I don’t want to mess up,” she says.
“Okay, I’ll show you again,” says Thistle, before demonstrating how the tool is used.
Wurth, who lives in McFarland, is enrolled in this summer’s inaugural CampBUILD at Madison College; it’s for Girl Scouts who want to learn about design, carpentry, welding, plumbing and electrical work. In this carpentry workshop, middle school students like Wurth are building a toolbox. A Girl Scout since the age of 6, Wurth signed up for CampBUILD to learn how to build things. “It’s fun to see the outcome in the end,” she says.
CampBUILD is the result of a “combined vision” between the Girl Scouts and Thistle says Eliza Zimmerman, program manager for Girl Scouts of Wisconsin. “We wanted to do something with the skilled trades,” Zimmerman says. “We know that carpentry, electrical, plumbing and welding are less representative of women so we wanted to build this bridge. We wanted to spark an interest — even if not a career — and give girls the confidence that they can do things around the house.”
This summer, CampBUILD hosted camps for children in grades pre-K through high school over two weeks. Kindergarteners design and build birdhouses using hand tools, while middle school and high school campers learn welding basics, plumbing systems, and how to use power tools to build a playhouse.
“In my mind, I thought the draw for these camps would be the design workshops, but the first day they go to welding, the girls say ‘we love welding,’” says Thistle, or “Bam Bam” as the Girl Scouts call her. “And then the second day they do carpentry and they say ‘we love carpentry.’”
Thistle has spent much of her career trying to open up the trades for “all underrepresented folks,” including women. “Girls are significantly less likely to have exposure to these skills and jobs than boys of their same age,” Thistle says. “Girls need to see women occupying these roles and careers in order to imagine themselves in the same place.”
Nearby, Joely Pringle, 12, gives directions to her partner, Lizzie, as they cut side panels for their tool boxes. “Ignore this first line and do this line because I messed up on this one,” Pringle explains.
Pringle says she signed up for the workshop because she likes woodworking and her dad likes to build things in their garage. “It’s fun to make things and work with my hands and it’s hard to find places that do things with kids,” Pringle says.
After reviewing the procedures for using the circular saw, Thistle encourages Wurth to give it a shot. Wurth starts it up and the metallic saw grinds through the wood, until one end of the board clatters to the ground. It’s quiet for a moment and then Thistle starts clapping and gives Wurth a high five.
At her work space, Wurth explains her hesitation. “Yesterday I pushed the trigger on the saw too early, so I got scared, but today I didn’t mess up.”
Girl Scouts attending CampBUILD as of Aug. 9: 116
Projects completed: One picnic table, 49 toolboxes, 30 birdhouses
Tools used: Hammer, drill, speed square, handsaw, sander, jigsaw, circular saw, welder
30,250: Estimated number of women carpenters in U.S. in 2018 (2.2 percent of the profession)
21,288: Female electricians (2.4 percent)
34,182: Women welders (5.4 percent)