Manufacturing camp gives young women a taste of the industry

OROVILLE — Nine young women got to sandblast and weld to their hearts content this week during the Girls Manufacturing Camp at Butte College.

The campers, all between the ages of 10 and 16, started camp Monday. The campers learned how to use equipment such as sandblasters and media blasters.

Butte College Advanced Manufacturing instructor Kelly Womack taught the camp. She had a big smile on her face after camp ended Monday.

“It went great,” Womack said. “It was a whirlwind.”

The campers worked on their project during the three days of camp, which was welding metal toolboxes with their names blazoned on them. They were able to design their names and pick what decorations to add to them. After the girls finished they were able to take the toolboxes home with them.

Womack said the welding and manufacturing world is mostly comprised of men.

“It’s important to find your way in this boys’ club,” Womack said. “There aren’t a lot of women in the industry.”

Catey Tompkins is an engineering student at Butte College and volunteered her time to help out in the camp.

“It’s really brave for the girls to do this hands on stuff,” Tompkins said. “It’s super cool to see how my program gets transferred to manufacturing.”

Womack said there are more jobs in the industry in the Butte County area then they have workers for.

The camp has sponsors who provided welding equipment. The campers were watched closely by the adults and given a safety demonstration.

On Monday, Womack said the girls embarked on a scavenger hunt of sorts in which they were given the names of the machines, all of which were numbered, and they had to find the machine and learn how to operate it.

Adeline Contreras, an unofficial camper whose parents are both welders, smiled and watched, fascinated, as welding and manufacturing instructor Logan Ziegenmeyer used a robotic arm for a project in the lab Tuesday. Contreras’ mother, Mishka Nobel, is a camp volunteer and industry professional and even though Adeline is only 6 years old, the instructors let her attend the camp because of her mom.

Nobel has worked with Womack in the past and admires what she is contributing to women in the manufacturing and welding field.

“Everything she is doing for the next generation means a lot to all women in this field,” Nobel said.

Contreras said she enjoyed using the lab equipment.

“It was fun,” Contreras said. “The media blaster machine was my favorite.”

Nobel said the campers especially enjoyed using the media blaster, where campers put on big gloves and stick their projects into the machine, which cleans off the items and makes them look smooth and finished.

Eilene Franco-Brooks, whose daughter is camper Lotus Franco-Brooks, 9, laughed and said her daughter came home spouting off jargon about manufacturing and welding.

“She’s using the language, and it’s really cool to see her experimenting with these new things,” Franco-Brooks said.

Franco-Brooks also said Lotus enjoyed working with Womack.

“I love Kelly, she’s so energetic and loves what she does,” Lotus Franco-Brooks said. “I like the camp because we get to do fun activities that we don’t get to do really often. It’s good to experience new things.”

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