2023-2024 INVITATIONS
This program is open by invitation to students who have participated in 3 or more years of carpentry- or construction-based Girls Garage programming, and priority is given to 11th and 12th grade students. Invitations are sent starting August 1, and students are enrolled for the entire school year (8 weeks in Fall, 8 weeks in Winter, 6 weeks in Spring, 1 week-long intensive over the summer). If you are a rising 9th-12th grader and have attended 3 or more years of our programming, we welcome your email to express your interest and share with us why you would like to join the Advanced Design/Build Cohort! You can email us directly at info (at) girlsgarage (dot) org.
PROGRAM INFO
Our Advanced Design/Build program is a year-round cohort of our most committed builder girls and gender-expansive youth. This cohort brings together 9th-12th grade students from diverse backgrounds to tackle complex, community-based projects designed and built by students themselves.
Over three after-school seasons and one week of summer programming each year, this team of high school students embarks on our most ambitious design and construction projects for local community clients, seeing projects from conception and design development to construction documentation and on-site project construction. By applying math, science, carpentry, drafting, welding, and leadership skills, projects from the Advanced Design/Build program challenge students to create and complete an architectural project that will live in the world for years to come. Youth from this program have built a greenhouse, furniture for a women’s shelter, a public parklet for a local restaurant, and a chicken coop-in-progress.
Most participants in the Advanced Design/Build cohort have been coming to Girls Garage for many years and express great interest in STEM, design, architecture, or trades careers. This program also puts youth in a position of leadership and activism, voicing their ideas in public arenas and with real clients. We work hard to support this advanced cohort with supplementary discussions and lessons related to confidence, fear, career pathways, college applications, how to apply for a job or put together a resume, and more. We also hold a safe space for intimate conversations about identity, confidence, and navigating the world as a young woman. Through partnerships with architecture firms, engineers, and female STEM leaders, we also connect students to mentors in their fields of interest.
The program is no-cost for students and families, and opens invitations and applications each fall for the year-round cohort.