Last year, Rachael Southworth got more out of the summer camp Rosie’s Girls than fun in the sun.
“She came home and redid her room with help from her father,” said Tami Southworth, Rachael’s mother.
Then a sixth-grader at Emma Willard, Southworth was one of eight girls who participated in the school’s test run of a new summer camp program. Named after Rosie the Riveter, Rosie’s Girls started in Vermont, and last summer’s trial at Emma Willard was the first New York offshoot.
“It really fit in nicely with the Emma Willard mission on really thinking about educating all aspects for the girls, not just academics but the trades,” said Tosha Burnie-Grimmer, director of Girlsummer and Rosie’s Girls.
Campers learned carpentry, plumbing and other trade skills that are typically associated with boys, not girls.
“(It’s) creating venues that women don’t think about. Now it’s ‘I can fix my toilet or check out my car or fix my bicycle,'” said Burnie-Grimmer. “We’re opening that avenue of the world. I don’t want to say it was closed, but it still seems like it’s a boys world.”
Southworth said she chose Rosie’s Girls as her summer camp pick because it was different. She liked it so much that she enrolled again this summer.
“I wanted to maybe try something new for a change instead of drama classes and all that girl stuff,” said Southworth.
She said she painted a dorm, learning how to tape off a room so paint doesn’t splatter on trim, windows or furniture. She also built a miniature house and took field trips for real-life experience. Each camper built a toolbox and got to take it home filled with a full tool set.
“The first field trip was to a bricklaying place where we built a miniature brick wall,” said Southworth. “The second one was to a construction site in Clifton Park, and we saw how they build houses from step one all the way up to the finished house, and then we toured the finished house and it was very nice.”
She liked everything but said one activity stood out as a clear favorite.
“A lot of the skills there were really good, but I have to say when we built the boats it was the best because our instructor took us to a hidden secret lake behind the school, so we sailed our boats down there,” said Southworth.
This summer, Southworth said she’s hoping to delve deeper into plumbing and advance her carpentry skills.
“I’m hoping to get a little more in carpentry and maybe learn more about plumbing, like how the sink water goes down,” said Southworth. “And maybe build something different besides houses, maybe a miniature chair or box.”
Rosie’s Girls is open to middle school students and already two campers from last year have signed up for another round.
“It was a very positive response. There was a lot of doing and actions. They used tools, measured wood, cut wood, used nails, used a wrench to undo the pipe under the sink, so they were really involved that way,” said Burnie-Grimmer. “It wasn’t just a sit and watch kind of program.”
This year’s camp will feature bike repair, more carpentry and yet-to-be-decided activities, said Burnie-Grimmer.
Southworth said Rosie’s Girls is something other students should try out.
“It’s a new skill for girls to learn. You can learn about what most men usually do, and women can do that, too,” said Southworth.
For more information about Rosie’s Girls or to register, visit www.emmawillard.org/programs/summer-programs.
