CLEVELAND — Welcome to Oatey University, where troops of Girl Scouts are learning what's behind the walls of a house. This training center highlights Oatey's plumbing products, from simple connections to high-end fixtures.
"We are very behind not only educating girls but educating everyone on why it's so important to continue the trades," Samantha Benedict, channel marketing manager at Oatey, said. "We need new plumbers entering the workforce."
During the visit, the girls got to build their own P-trap, the bend in the pipe under your sink that keeps sewer odors from entering the home. After all, plumbing is all about keeping water flowing in the right direction.
Exploring the trades is the first step for Girl Scouts in earning a "The House that She Built" badge. The "She Built" movement also inspired a book, and Oatey came on board to build the girls' confidence.
"I was a little nervous because they're third and fourth graders, but they did great," Benedict told us. "You know, they have a lot of energy, but they were excited."
"It is very interesting, yes," remarked fourth grader Kiere Cooke. Claire Candow, a third grader, called it "incredible and very impressive."
The next step for the scouts? Design a model based on what they've learned.
"We learned about the things under our sinks," Candow said.
"The pipes," Cooke explained. "We got to see what it looks like behind all the wood."
Women are vastly underrepresented in many fields beneath the STEM umbrella, including construction. Thanks to experiences like this, those numbers may be shifting.
"It would be like if you're a businessperson, that's a trade," Cookie said. "If you're a plumber, that's a trade. A carpenter, that's a trade."
"If we get one or two that becomes something — you know, a construction worker, an engineer, whatever — we did our job," Benedict added.
The two Girl Scout troops and Oatey employees will get together again in a few weeks to share what they designed and built, and get that "The House that She Built" badge.