Auburn Resident Runs Camps Nationwide Introducing Girls to Construction

With hammers in hand and pink hard hats on their heads, a group of girls are building things while breaking barriers at the same time.

More than a dozen young ladies are learning the tools of the trade this week at the MAGIC Summer Camp at Gwinnett Technical College in Lawrenceville. MAGIC is an acronym for Mentoring a Girl in Construction. 

Renee Conner, a construction worker from Auburn, Ga., founded the free camp in 2007 in Gwinnett County. Conner now runs 25 camps introducing girls to construction nationwide.

“We are in a skilled laborer workforce shortage, and we hope to be training our next workforce,” Conner said. “I, as a tradeswoman who is in the ditch, never see any females on the job.”

She hopes to get more young women interested in construction careers.

“For me, it’s all about the girls,” Conner said. “If I can save one girl from dropping out of school or finding a career in a non-traditional way, that’s what I hope to do.”

The young ladies range in age from 14 to 20. Many come from local high schools, but some also come Gwinnett Tech’s GAP Program, an initiative to help students who dropped out of high school earn their GEDs and find career paths.

The week began with a course in safety Monday, followed by daylong workshops in carpentry, electrical work and welding and will end with a job site tour Friday at North Gwinnett High School. The girls also hear from women in the field each day.

Cassi Walker of Lawrenceville has worked with the MAGIC Camp since the beginning. She started welding as a teen and was asked to be a guest instructor at the camp six years ago while she was still in high school 

“I took a welding class at Maxwell (High School of Technology) and I was the only female in the welding class,” Walker said. 

Conner contacted Walker’s welding teacher and invited her to help out the girls at the MAGIC Camp.

“It gives them the confidence to feel like they can do anything,” Walker said about the importance of a camp such as this one. “With men — no offense to men — they’re all, ‘Oh I can do everything you can do but better than you can because you’re a woman.’ And that’s not true in the least. And this is a good way to show them that we can do exactly what they can do.”

Nyomi Sorton, 15, of Decatur watches her father build things from time to time in his workshop and is excited about what she’s learning about carpentry. On Tuesday, she built her own toolbox and learned how to use a rotary saw, take measurements, use a hammer and more.

“You must be precise about your measurements or it will throw your entire thing off,” Sorton said.

She says she may possibly pursue a career in construction, but at least she’s learning new skills she can use in the future. 

“Maybe I could expand my abilities, maybe became a little handy. Expand that," she said. "That would be good for me.”