This year, as we have done for the past two years, Cody and I shared the pleasures and pitfalls of working with chainsaws with about 60 girls who will be Vermont’s next generation of fierce workforce women. This year, to our surprise and delight, the weather was perfect – crisp enough that we knew it was fall, but sunny enough that we could get away with wearing t-shirts. On the beautiful Old Dorm Green at Vermont Technical College, Cody and I set up our saw horses and pole-sized logs, and waited for our students to appear. We had two courses to teach in the morning, 70 minutes each, beginning with our spiel on Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), in which we introduced safety equipment – from steel toes, to hair ties, to up-to-date helmets. Next we split into two groups to get our hands on some chainsaws. Before starting or running the saws, we opened up the face plates and gave students a behind-the-scenes peek at the bar and chain, also going over the safety features to check before sawing.
Then came the highlight: cookie cutting. The majority of girls took to the challenge head-on and, after practicing starting a chainless saw, donned their protective gear and stepped up to the cutting station. We talked them through the cut, and then let them learn by doing. Though many were hesitant at first – surprised by the power they held in their hands – everyone who tried was successful. The looks on their faces when we handed them their own tree cookie were of wide-eyed pride, and their hands shook with the tremulous high of witnessing their own ferocity. Watching them, I remembered my own physical and emotional reaction when I first used a chainsaw- the jittery excitement that took over my body and left me awed, trembling, and unable to stop grinning. A bit of that feeling returns whenever I use a chainsaw, or any power tool, really. It’s empowerment, and it feels so good.
– Meghann Carter, Conservation Specialist
Cody Sayers and Meg Carter have represented NorthWoods and taught a chainsaw safety & handling workshops for the past three years at the annual Women Can Do Conference. This yearly event at the Vermont Technical College in Randoph, VT provides hands-on workshops to high school girls interested in trades and technical skills.