Aimed at inspiring a new generation of builders and dismantling gender barriers in the construction industry, the camp was hosted by the Northeast Construction Trades Workforce Coalition (NCTWC), a task force dedicated to igniting interest in and dispelling misconceptions about skilled trade careers. The camp is done in collaboration with Whitbeck Construction and the Washington-Saratoga-Warren-Hamilton-Essex (WSWHE) BOCES. The five-day camp, which started Monday, July 22, culminated with the Construction Olympics, a series of skill-based competitions.
“I didn’t think I’d like construction but I actually do,” says Perrault, a rising seventh grade student in the Saratoga Springs City School District. “I liked all of the building and making friends.”
Those who participated came from surrounding school districts as far away as Albany. Each gained insight into how science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and design are applied in construction. They also visited homes under construction by Witt Construction and toured the Pallette Stone Corporation Quarry & Plant in Saratoga Springs.
“These are skills she’s going to use her whole life,” says Aria’s mom, Erica Perrault.
The camp’s curriculum was designed to build both skills and confidence, says Matt Whitbeck, who organized each day’s lessons and activities, aided by a group of volunteer instructors and experienced professionals. The girls spent the week learning about tools and creating several projects from scratch, like toolboxes, charcuterie boards and Viking camp chairs to take home. They also worked together in teams to craft colorful dodecahedron sculptures and vertical garden stands that will be donated to local senior centers.
“We feel blessed with the turnout, not only in the number of attendees we got but also with just how great they’ve all been,” says Whitbeck, who along with his brother, Jason, founded Whitbeck Construction LLC, a residential and commercial construction company, nearly 20 years ago.
The girls not only learned how to properly swing a hammer, drive a screw and use a speed square, they also learned how to work effectively together, says Whitbeck.
“They are all caring and attentive young ladies,” he says. “They made new friends, which is one of the great parts about going to camp.”
The camp started as a kernel of an idea that Assemblywoman Carrie Woerner (AD-113) pitched to Doug Ford, director of sales for Curtis Lumber and president of NCTWC, while exploring ways to not only grow the local workforce but bring more girls into the trades.
“In this year’s budget I really made it a priority to secure the funding for this because I think it’s a great model we could replicate across the state as a way to bring into the trades a whole generation of young women,” says Woerner. “You can’t become what you can’t see.”
The Northeast Construction Trades Workforce Coalition started as a small task force within the Saratoga Builders Association (SBA) in Saratoga County. With the support of Curtis Lumber leadership, the organization has elevated its efforts to bring people into the field.
Roughly 1.3 million — or 10 percent of construction workers in America — are women, according to a 2023 report by the Bureau of Labor and Statistics. That’s about a 53 percent increase in 10 years, but women still make up a small percentage of a workforce in an industry desperately looking to fill more than 300,000 existing job openings, according to the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Creating a more diverse and inclusive construction industry requires more than just increasing the number of women in the field.
The construction camp is a great way to empower girls to build skills and confidence, but also explore a career in the trades, says Turina Parker, Ed.D., WSWHE BOCES district superintendent and chief executive officer. Women remain highly underrepresented in the trades, she says.
“It feels like empowering kids. It feels like breaking down barriers,” says Parker. “There are partnerships coming together with all of us working toward the same goal.”
After five days, Liliana Galushi, a rising seventh grade student in the South Glens Falls Central School District, says she can see herself working in construction some day, or at the very least exploring a career and technical trade program in high school.
“It’s something that I haven’t done before so it’s definitely something I’d like to do in the future,” says Galushi, who enjoyed building the Viking chairs the most because she was able to be creative and use a power saw. “Basically, it’s just really fun.”