PWB president Lia Mastroianni said the Zoom session will focus on careers in STEM. Participants will have the opportunity to talk to alumni of the construction management program and discuss career options within the industry, as well as related careers outside of the industry. 

“Obviously, there's other things like urban planning and landscape architecture, and things that are also built environment industry related that aren't just construction,” Mastroianni said. “So that's going to kind of focus a little bit more about the options once you are in college and once you graduate.”

Mastroianni said discussion topics with the panelists will include, a day in the life in their role, the types of projects they’ve worked on and how they got into the construction industry. 

“Just advice for students in terms of how you go about thinking about your future and your career,” Mastroianni said. “Since they are in middle school and high school, types of skills that are required for the job, and I guess a more broad topic of ‘how does working in the industry impact others or the environment.’”

The second session will be an in-person hands-on event on MSU’s campus, Saturday, April 2, from 12 to 2 p.m. It will be led by PWB members with Granger Construction employees teaching and coaching the team's events. 

“The in person event is going to be revolving around hands-on build activity, where we will have a few of our industry partners coming to facilitate that as well,” Mastroianni said. “And girls will be asked to do a little mock build, and will be judged by our panelists.”

Mastroianni said participants will have the opportunity to visit the STEM Teaching and Learning Facility on campus, to learn about mass timber and the history of the building as it relates to construction. 

“It has a very unique history,” Mastroianni said about the STEM building. 

PWB social media director Kendyll Borchert said these events are great opportunities for Girl Scouts to get exposure to a range of careers in construction. 

“There's not that many women in construction,” Borchert said. “This would give them the chance to really see that there are more careers out there for them to explore and it's not such a small range of fields. But hopefully by doing this, they'll see that maybe it's something that interests them for the future.”

Both sessions are open to Girl Scout ambassadors, seniors and cadettes. Interested participants can register online.