![Students participating in the automotive workshop. Photo: Supplied Students participating in the automotive workshop. Photo: Supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/stephen.katte/014db7a6-ea2a-4403-8602-94f6dc6f08b9.JPG/r394_493_4032_2841_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
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.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
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.
!['Girls Can Too' is an experiential day designed to give high school girls a chance to try a non-traditional trade 'Girls Can Too' is an experiential day designed to give high school girls a chance to try a non-traditional trade](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/stephen.katte/25010f0c-abd4-4270-b51f-f70f9717fe4d.jpg/r0_170_703_937_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
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.