SOUTH PORTLAND, Maine — As May slowly rolled into June, a handful of South Portland High School girls spent one of their last days of the semester outdoors. On Wednesday, May 31, these students traded in their desks and textbooks for drills and hammers, taking part in a special project — while learning important skills.
Laurel LaBauve was the leader of this endeavor. She's a board member for the Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland and has been in the construction trade for about a dozen years, renovating houses in South Portland. She said she wants to see more women involved in the trades.
"I noticed very quickly that I was really the only woman around," LaBauve said about her career. "There were never any women on the building site with me."
LaBauve said nationwide, only about 10 percent of people in construction are women, and only about three percent work on job sites. It's why she was excited to introduce these high school girls to the trades at an early age, as part of Habitat for Humanity's Women Build program.
"To be honest, I think they're having a great time," LaBauve said Wednesday about the girls' experience. "One of the girls just told me, 'This is so much fun!'"
"Why can't a woman come out and do this kind of work, if they're inspired, if they have an engineering mindset, if they just really like to be outdoors and work with their hands?" Tara Hill, executive director of Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland, said.
Hill said the house these students are working on is one of eight Habitat for Humanity homes going up in the neighborhood on Sunset Avenue, and only two are spoken for so far. She said the nonprofit organization's goal is to help families afford to own a home who may not be able to otherwise.
"We really help folks who have much lower incomes. They really don't have another opportunity to own a home like this," Hill said.
On Wednesday, the students learned they were building a home for a woman named Sarah and her four children. Hill said Sarah is from South Portland originally and is thrilled to be coming back to her home community.
"This is [Sarah's] first house," 16-year-old Divine Gomez said. "That we get to help with that, I feel really proud—proud of her and proud of us for helping, too."
Gomez said she understands how tough tight finances can be after watching her own family struggle, especially since the pandemic.
"I know what it's like to struggle with rent, especially now that inflation is causing the market to go up," Gomez said.
Aside from helping one of their future neighbors, these girls also made new friends and learned valuable skills on Wednesday they said they'll be able to keep with them for a lifetime.
"I think it's something everyone should know how to do, at least the basics, because things break, things happen," 16-year-old Christa Jane said, later adding, "If I need something done, if I want something built, I will help and do it myself."
Hill is encouraging people to apply for Habitat for Humanity of Greater Portland homes. You can apply and find out if you're eligible here.