Photo: Taryn Ritchie
Ainsley Muller, 11, went to art camp and theater camp in summers past. This summer, she learned how to use a power drill, weld metal and unclog a sink. She was among 35 middle-school-age girls who attended a free week-long building and plumbing camp organized by the Austin chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction. In 2019, Taryn Ritchie helped put on Austin’s first girls construction camp and 15 girls signed up. “This industry, like many, is facing incredible workforce shortages,” says Jennifer Sproul, who runs the nonprofit Maryland Center for Construction Education and Innovation. The girls were intrigued at the idea of making a decent living without taking on student loan debt. “My hope is that every one of these girls will want to come back next year and add some new tools to their belts,” Ritchie said. “If the end result is that they don’t want to pay somebody $250 to unclog their sinks, that’s great. They can do it themselves.”
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