Dargaville student’s design promotes tradeswomen

Dargaville student’s design promotes women in trades

Dargaville High School student Tamrah van Leeuwerden design promoting the trades as a career for women has won her a bumper sticker design competition run by NorthTec on its ACE ‘Fix It Chicks’ trades taster programme.

Tamrah was presented with her professionally-printed bumper stickers at a school assembly earlier this week (subs 3 May) and won a $250 gift voucher for her efforts.

Tamrah was one of a group of young women who took part in ‘Fix it Chicks’ at NorthTec’s Future Trades facility in Whangarei last year. ‘Fix it Chicks’ gives young women the opportunity to experience a range of trades including construction, automotive and boat building.

Tamrah’s ‘Fix it Chicks’ group were then invited to submit a bumper sticker design promoting women in trades. Tamrah’s design includes the messages “girls can do it better” and “it’s not just a guy thing”.

Tamrah said that she thoroughly enjoyed her ‘Fix it Chicks’ course, particularly the opportunity to use the innovative ‘build a house in a day’ learning tool which gives students the chance to put up the framing and roof for a small kitset house.

“We made less mistakes and were faster than the boys that were working there on that day. The tutor said, ‘the girls did it better’ which provided me with the inspiration for the motto on my bumper sticker.”

Dargaville High School Principal David Bargh said that he had visited Future Trades and was impressed with the facility and what it could offer students in the north. He was impressed with Tamrah’s design and the strength of the message that it was promoting.

NorthTec’s Operations Manager for Trade and Technology Innovations, Adele Stone, said that there was a real opportunity for women to make a great career in the trades. “Women often handle paperwork better than men and have real attention to detail – both skills that are important in the modern trades workforce.”

ENDS

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