Brand Story To Watch: Rosie's Girls

Talk about lighting an inspirational spark.

Rosie’s Girls is a seriously cool story about girls who can take the heat. It’s a program of Vermont Works for Women, founded and based in Winooski, Vermont.

Check out this three day metal workshop that teaches the girls how to use a Mig welder, an oxyacetylene torch and a plasma cutter. These are machines that blast impressive sparks and intense heat and were once considered for “boys only.”

STEM: Science, Technology, Engineering and Math
Named after cultural icon Rosie the Riveter, Rosie’s Girls is a 3-week summer day camp that helps build strong, confident girls through exploration of the skilled trades. Girls entering 6, 7 and 8th grades get hands-on instruction in STEM-related activities, carpentry, welding and auto repair.

They also participate in creative arts, games, swimming and self-defense. It’s a safe, supportive, girl-centered environment that emphasizes leadership, teamwork and healthy body image – with tons of fun woven in!

What Happens at Camp?
Rosie’s Girls campers have a chance to get their hands dirty, express themselves creatively and explore what the world has to offer them – and what they have to offer the world. This experience helps emerging young women expand their sense of the range of educational, work and career options available to them. All of the instructors are women professionals in their fields, as well as vibrant role models and mentors for girls.

Building & Exploration
The girls learn and apply basic carpentry skills including measuring, cutting, hammering and tool safety. They create projects to take home and use these skills in a community service project.

Rosie’s Girls campers have built picnic tables, dog houses, benches and small structures for social service organizations that show the broader world what girls can do. It allows the girls the chance to explore other educational and career fields that are considered non-traditional careers for women such as welding, engineering, firefighting, auto technology, electrical wiring and digital media.

Arts & Creative Expression
Rosie’s arts activities give campers the chance to express themselves in a variety of media including dance, drumming, collage design, silk screening, digital photography, mask-making or improvisation.

A Girl’s World
The camp allows the girls to engage in thought-provoking activities that examine the messages our society sends about the role that women and girls play in the world. Through these activities, girls are encouraged to explore who they are and what they can be.

Once Upon a Time
Way back in the dark ages, men chopped the wood and a women cleaned the house…. Those days are long gone but girls are still rarely taught how to use a chainsaw, weld metal, or a wire a bathroom.

Fortunately, Rosie’s Girl’s is changing all that!

(photos by: Karen Pike)