A new summer camp in Littleton is trying to show high school girls that there’s a place for them in the construction industry.

Garney, a national wastewater construction company, teamed up with Littleton Public School’s Explorative Pathways for Innovative Careers (EPIC) campus to host the weeklong summer camp.

Camp Garney introduces the girls to different facets of a career in construction, including hands-on work and soft-skill development. The camp is free, and breakfast and lunch are served daily.

The program launched in Kansas City last year and, this year, it expanded to Littleton. Next up is Orlando, Florida.

Katie Grooms, senior craft training manager for Garney, helps guide and advise the campers.

Grooms spoke to the campers about the worker shortage that the construction industry is facing, and how Garney hopes that the camp would show girls that everyone is welcome.

“I think one of the largest barriers for the construction industry is lack of knowledge,” she said. “Camps like this are to provide that knowledge of what the construction industry looks like.”

Grooms herself didn’t start out in the industry but stumbled upon it while working as a social worker for a youth construction program.

There, she said, she fell in love with the industry. She said she saw its impact on communities.

“It doesn’t matter your gender. It doesn’t matter your age. It doesn’t matter anything,” she said. “There is a spot for everyone in construction.”

Throughout Camp Garney, the girls work with heavy machinery, learn about electrical work, build community garden beds, work with concrete, and practice teambuilding exercises that foster a supportive community.

On Tuesday, the girls got to practice operating a scissor lift and a mini excavator.

Each camper was tasked with knocking a bright green ball off of a traffic cone using the excavator’s arm to practice their skills.

As for the lift, the girls put on their harnesses and rose to building height, as a mentor showed them how to control the machine.

Construction workers help mentor the girls throughout the camp, including members of the local chapter of the National Association of Women in Construction.

Marc Finer, the construction trades pathway lead at the EPIC campus, is helping put on the camp.

Finer said that since the EPIC campus opened in 2023, more students are taking an interest in construction.

“I hope they can see that construction, even though it’s a male populated field, there’s lots of room for women, and there’s a lot of support,” he said.

The EPIC campus is a career center that allows students to get hands-on experience in disciplines of their choosing.

Career pathways at EPIC include aerospace, business and entrepreneurship, computer science, construction trades, healthcare and natural resources.

In the construction realm, the center has workspaces and machinery simulators for students to learn on before they go out in the world and begin their careers.

Sixteen-year-old Kiley Craigg signed up for the camp due to her interest in architecture.

Throughout her high school experience, she said, she has always liked and taken woodshop classes.

When she saw the offer for the summer construction camp, she figured it would be good to get even more experience building things.

Craigg said it was great being able to get on some of the equipment, as it helped her imagine “how it would be on an actual job site.”

She’s signed up to study architecture design at the EPIC campus next fall.

Grooms said Garney’s goal is to lift up the next generation of construction workers, and she wants the program to continue to expand.

“I hope that all the young ladies in the camp, when they leave, feel empowered,” she said. “That they feel like they have a little bit more knowledge as they make the choice of what their path looks like going forward.”