Ponca Works Holds Annual Summer Camp

Ponca Works recently held its annual Girl Power summer camp, a day camp introducing 8th grade girls to to careers in the Ponca City area that are focused on science, technology and math.

The camp was held in the final week of June. Free to students who are recommended by their teachers, the camp was first brainstormed four years ago as Ponca Works was scouring the local workforce for more welders and fabricators with many open positions at local companies.

These were jobs that required little to no experience but had the potential to make

a worker a living wage or more with time and skill attainment. Those positions continued to go unfilled, but when an office position was posted, there were hundreds of female applicants.

Ponca Works founders, through the Ponca City Development Authority, felt that much of this could be attributed to misconceptions of male lead industries and the lack of knowledge about them.

Local employers that Ponca Works was created to serve are aware of the state of the workforce in the area well as they struggle to fill positions in their fast-moving industries.

According to Ponca Works representatives, this is not Ponca City specific, or even Oklahoma specific, but a nationwide issue that many minds are working to solve. The common thread of discussion centers around automation in the workplace, which could leave the jobs left as more skilled, especially in the technology arena.

The Girl Power camp is just one way in which Ponca Works hopes to combat those skilled jobs gaps.

The camp toured 11 local industries in which the employers shared their fastest growing positions, highlighted the women in their organizations and

showed the campers what their industry looks like on a day to day basis. “This is such a valuable program for Ponca City’s employers, and we will see the outcome of what it does for them as the first participants of Girl Power graduate in two more years,” said Liz Leaming, camp director. “It will be a program that will continue to be refined and grow as we develop what is best for the companies in Ponca City.”

Pioneer Technology Center collaborated with PCDA to bring this camp to Ponca City with the use of the

PTC campus for hands-on activities helping science, technology and manufacturing come to life for the campers involved.

Among other projects, girls created a wireless blue tooth speaker to take home with them. Other skills they learned included carpentry, engineering, chemistry, skilled manufacturing, and design.

The girls taking part in the camp included Harlee Martin, Madison Ailey, Kathryn White, Erika Pizzuto, Allyson “Ally”  Wilkins, Ariana Pensoneau, Crystal Grider, Kerida Cain, Judith Cook, Kalley Horn, Geneva Nelson, Natalie Fraser, Harper Fraser, Annie Leaming, and Riley Tice.

For more information about Girl Power or Ponca Works, contact Leaming at 580-765-7070, lleaming@goponca.com or visit PoncaWorks.com.