Teenage girls at Kearny Mesa High School have decided to ditch the mall and pick up a hammer during their summer break. Its part of a new program designed to build interest in construction. KPBS Reporter Ana Tintocalis has the story.
A group of girls wearing hard hats and neon-orange construction vests stack layers of cement and brick with precision-like care. They're building three small planters for an outdoor patio at their high school -- and its just one of the projects they'll tackle at construction camp.
Eighteen-year-old Ana Sical says she's always been interested in building and creating. She says construction is no longer a man's world. In fact, Ana thinks women make better leaders in construction.
Sical: Women are good at multi-tasking which men…they kinda of lack that skill. Not saying they can't do that. But its true, women are better at organizing. So it helps out.
The girls will also take-on projects that teach them about plumbing, carpentry and sheet metal.
The week-long program is funded by the National Association of Women in Construction -- and its first of its kind in California.
Ana Tintocalis, KPBS News.