Skip to Content

VWW's office remains closed as staff primarily work remotely. Please contact us in advance if you need to visit our Winooski office; our team is available via phone or email.

Career Challenge Day 2025 at GMTCC

by Jillian Scannell

Middle school student uses a microscope at Career Challenge Day

 

For the third year in a row, Vermont Works for Women held Career Challenge Day at Green Mountain Technology and Career Center (GMTCC) in Hyde Park. 

Career Challenge Day is a free, day-long career exploration event that provides girls and gender-expansive youth in grades 6-8 with the opportunity to try hands-on activities at GMTCC in a supportive environment.  

Career Challenge Day 2025

This year 99 students from 10 schools across the Lamoille County participated in empowering, hands-on activities in different non-traditional programs at the tech center.  Visiting students had the chance to learn about six of GMTCC’s 13 programs by meeting instructors and current students, getting their hands on special tools, and experiencing a taste of common projects in each of the different fields:  

  • Allied Health – checked vitals, learned CPR, stopped the bleed, learned anatomy, talked to an AI medical dummy “Alex”
  • Automotive Technology – changed a tire, checked car oil and brake fluid 
  • Computer Technology – explored the guts of a computer, used VR, played a video game, tested out Lego robotics and learned about internet cable networking
  • Construction Technology – used a hammer, chop saw, sawzall, drill, jigsaw, and nail gun to build storage boxes
  • Creative Media Art & Design – use digital cameras to take photos in the studio space and edit them using design software 
  • Culinary Arts – dipped fruit in chocolate and made homemade pizza
  • Electrical Tech – wired an outlet and light
  • Engineering – built Bluetooth speakers
  • Forestry & Land Management – sat in a climbing harness, started a chainsaw, learned to tap a tree, and measured tree height and diameter
  • Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning – brazed copper pipes   
  • Pre-Technology – explored and built simple machines
  • Sustainable Agriculture & Food Systems – Inoculated logs, planted seeds, observed parasites under a microspore, and interacted with two goats
Middle school girls solders at Career Challenge Day at GMTCC A middle school girl learns how to wire an outlet at Career Challenge Day at GMTCC

 

 

 

 

 

Why is Career Challenge Day Important?  

Research and our experience prove that early exposure to STEM and trades career fields inspires more girls and gender-expansive students to enroll in their tech center and/or pursue fields where their gender is often underrepresented. It is clear from the student feedback that participants felt safe, inspired, and like they explored something they might have not thought about before Career Challenge Day. 

Middle school students meet goats at Career Challenge Day at GMTCC. Middle school girl uses a drill to build a box at Career Challenge Day at GMTCC

 

 

 

 

 

Student Feedback 

Students complete a survey at the end of the day, giving VWW and GMTCC valuable information about their experience – what they enjoyed, how prepared staff where, if they could see themselves being a student at GMTCC and whether they had an interest in trades/STEM before attending Career Challenge Day.

  • 88%      “I did something today that I didn’t know I was capable of before attending CCD”
  • 88%      “I would like to learn more about GMTCC”
  • 60%      Before attending CCD had an interest in Trades and/or STEM careers 
  • 89%      After attending CCD had an interest in Trades and/or STEM careers
  • 88%      “I can see myself being a student here”

When asked about their day, students shared:

  • “I wanna come back!”
  • “I loved career day and can’t wait to do it next year.”
  • “I liked having fun and trying new things!”
  • “Everything was amazing and I learned a lot.”

To learn more about Career Challenge Day at GMTCC or be notified of the event next year, please contact Sarah Raimondi at sraimondi@vtworksforwomen.org