Macleay High school girls in Years 9 and 10 joined other students across the Hastings and broader Mid North Coast regions for the annual TAFE NSW 'Girls Can Too' event.
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Held at TAFE NSW Kempsey, 'Girls Can Too' is an experiential day for high school girls to try a non-traditional trade. 43 students had an opportunity to get their hands dirty in automotive, engineering, horticulture and construction with a series of workshops.
The construction session was facilitated by the talented team of female 'tradies' from the Supporting and Linking Tradeswomen's Team (SALT), an organisation which supports and provides a proactive network for tradeswomen, apprentices and women with aspirations to enter a trade.
The day culminated with a Women in Trades Forum which had six tradeswomen share their experience and passion for their respective trades.
Guest speakers included Sam Edwards, a TAFE NSW Kempsey graduate who owns an automotive repair workshop in South West Rocks and participates in professional drag racing. Macleay Valley engineering and horticultural tradeswoman Wendy McAffley, who manages a horticulture production farm at Nulla Nulla and a blacksmithing business. Rounding out the group was electrician Brydie Maro who also is a snake handler.
TAFE NSW Services Manager, Maura Luxford, said the day was a huge success, with many students leaving the event having greater confidence in the career direction they wanted to pursue.
"Hands-on experience inspires young women to open their minds to futures they hadn't considered. To see and hear first-hand from women who have trod a similar path and succeeded is pure gold when deciding a career direction," she said.
"A highlight was hearing inspired feedback from the girls who removed tyres in automotive sessions, had a virtual reality experience on a welding simulator in engineering, learned about horticulture, divided and potted up their plants to take home and built their wooden cutlery caddy for home too."
The day ended with a lucky prize draw of a pink tool kit donated by Mid Coast Connect and six other prizes. All 43 girls walked away with more than just the projects they'd built during the day; they left with confidence and aspirations for the future.
'Girls Can Too' is a partnership between Mid Coast Connect and TAFE NSW which has been facilitated at both TAFE NSW Taree and TAFE NSW Wauchope for the past four years.
