The Golden Isles College and Career Academy collaborated again this year with local partners to offer middle school girls an opportunity to learn about career opportunities in fields like welding, machining, engineering and the culinary arts.
The program is hosted over three nights at the Career Academy, and girls are asked to bring a female mentor like their mom, grandmother or other important woman in their life.
The program is a collaboration between GICCA, Coastal Pines Technical College and the Golden Isles Development Authority. It was funded by grants from United Way of Coastal Georgia, Hello Goodbuy and the Okefenoke Rural EMC Foundation.
GICCA hosted its largest group to date this year with 24 girls participating. The culinary arts pathway was added to the program for the first time this year.
“Only 23% of the world’s executive chefs are women” said Brian Weese, GICCA Foundation CEO and workforce strategy leader. “While our culinary program is well attended by high school females, we need to encourage more to take on leadership roles in culinary arts.”
During the three-night program, the girls and adults get to try out the various trades and learn directly from GICCA instructors.
Each night began with a community dinner and a speakers who represented women in a variety of professions.
Night one introduced a new speaker to the This Girl Can circuit, Jenni Justiz-Quinones, research and development director at King and Prince Seafood. Justiz-Quinones shared her experiences working in consumer-packaged goods, including leading roles at Kraft and SC Johnson. On successive nights, she was followed by returning speakers Stephanie King, manager of compliance and technology at Brunswick Cellulose, and Stephanie Treece, director of production control at Jered, LLC.
The girls and their mentors also worked each night on capstone projects, which varied by pathway. Engineering students built motorized responsive robots, which traveled around the room until they encountered an obstacle, at which point they would adjust their course and keep traveling.
Welding and machining students built their own sets of wind chimes, which included cutting, grinding, welding and painting pre-cut metal pieces.
Culinary arts students spent their three nights working on an Italian dinner that included lasagna, salad with homemade vinaigrette, garlic bread and chocolate swirl cheesecake.
The program ended with a graduation ceremony, during which participants were provided certificates of completion. They were also given the opportunity to showcase their capstone projects.