SAN ANTONIO – Girl With Grit is one of those grassroots nonprofit organizations that makes you stop and go, “Why didn’t this exist when we were kids?”
Founded in 2020 as a 501(c)(3), it’s all about giving youth, especially young women, hands-on carpentry skills, mentorship and leadership development, with an emphasis on confidence.
The organization runs workshops and programs that mix tool education with real encouragement, so students leave feeling capable, not intimidated.
Girl With Grit founder and CEO Blythe Zemel said what she really wants students and educators to walk away with after a day in one of their events is “Mindset.”
Blythe explained that she once watched a “gender divide” play out in a welding class. Everyone was new, but the boys walked in excited, while some girls looked terrified. Her takeaway: it had nothing to do with ability; it was normalization.
“What I want is skills-based learning and project-based learning, such as tool education, to be a norm in our classrooms just like worksheets, so that the paradigm shifts and every child has an opportunity to grow their aptitudes and learn practical skills to help them grow in life and in mindset,” said Blythe.
Blythe is determined to make skills-based, project-based learning through the Kids With Grit curriculum available to classrooms so all the children can build practical skills and the confidence to try something new, even if they don’t end up loving it.
That’s also why their partnership with Education Service Center, Region 20 (ESC-20) matters. ESC-20 is one of 20 regional education service agencies in Texas that support school districts by helping improve student performance and strengthen school operations. The center does it in a collaborative, non-regulatory way.
Girl With Grit is working with ESC-20 to help empower teachers and students through the Girl With Grit curriculum and programs, including the Kids with Grit kits built around 36 hours of hands-on STEM and project-based learning with multiple projects, tools and PPE.
Further reading: Girl With Grit to offer ‘Train-the-Trainer’ session at Mitchell Lake Audubon Center in May
From the ESC-20 side, Angela Votion, Consultant, Gifted & STEM Education, said she was pulled in by the mission because it tackles a problem that she’s seen up close.
Girls and plenty of other children are being told that they don’t belong in labs, shops or hands-on spaces.
“Too often, girls are made to feel that spaces like workshops and labs aren’t meant for them, something I experienced as a young girl many times, but this collaborative work looks to actively change that narrative, and not just for girls but for all,” Angela said. “With these kits and camps, students don’t just learn practical skills, they discover that they belong anywhere they choose to be.”
She also emphasized that strong implementation depends on teachers feeling supported and confident while leading hands-on learning, creating classrooms where students can safely try, mess up, problem-solve, and keep going, and connecting the projects back to core skills like spatial reasoning, engineering design, and resilience.
So how can the community help?
Donating is the simplest, most direct way to expand access, because these kits, tools, safety gear, training and workshop experiences cost money. The whole point is getting them into the hands of students who might not otherwise get the chance. Corporate sponsors can step in by funding kits, which makes the program stick.
If you’ve ever said you want to support “real-world readiness” for children, this is one of those tangible, see-it-in-action ways to do it: give a student the chance to build confidence by helping put a kit, a tool and a supportive adult in their path.
Schools interested in joining “Team Grit” can reach out to: Rolando.Ruvalcaba@esc20.net to learn about curriculum kits and “Training of Trainers” support. Private groups like Girl Scout troops or homeschool families can also purchase the Kids with Grit kits.
Register now and get involved
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Girl With Grit mission is to provide youth with the tools, skills, and confidence to pursue fulfilling careers in skilled trades. With a focus on skill development, leadership, and personal growth, we seek to create in the next generation.
Education Service Center, Region 20 is one of 20 regional education service agencies in Texas that supports school districts in improving student performance and strengthening school operations. As a non-regulatory agency, we work collaboratively with districts as partners responding to their needs through a broad range of programs and services spanning administration, business support, certification and recruitment, curriculum and instruction, health and safety, professional development, specialized services, and technology.
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