Construction Camps for Girls supported by ATAS

The Let's Build Construction Camp for Girls is a free, week-long camp designed to introduce middle and high school-aged girls to career opportunities in the construction trades while teaching valuable life skills.

The ninth annual Lehigh Valley Let’s Build Construction Camp for Girls was held in June, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Since the camp’s inception, ATAS International, Inc. has proudly supported three of these programs through sponsorships, material donations and dedicated employee volunteers.

This free, week-long camp is designed to introduce middle and high school-aged girls to career opportunities in the construction trades while teaching valuable life skills. Campers learn the safe use of hand and power tools and apply those skills through hands-on activities in carpentry, electrical work, plumbing, HVAC, masonry, roofing, interior design, painting, flooring and metal panel installation. This year, campers at the Lehigh Valley camp installed ATAS’ Opaline aluminum wall panels and trim on the exterior of structures they built. The panels, featuring a walnut finish from the Woodland Series of woodgrain print coats in a durable 70% PVDF paint finish, added both beauty and realism to the campers’ projects.

A mid-week field trip is a signature part of the camp experience. This year, the girls visited a cement block manufacturer, an architectural firm, a recently completed apartment complex and the Habitat for Humanity ReStore, where they selected decorative elements to personalize their finished structures.

Lee Ann Slattery, sales support manager at ATAS and a founding member of the Lehigh Valley camp’s planning committee, shared, “It’s been an honor to serve on the committee since the beginning. Next year we’ll be celebrating the camp’s 10th anniversary, which is very exciting. The most rewarding part of the camp is watching the girls grow in confidence in just one week. They begin to realize they’re capable of much more than they thought, and that can have a lasting impact on their lives.”

ATAS extends its sincere thanks to the employee volunteers who helped make this year’s camps a success. Tim Coughlan, Kevin Klersy and Julie Wheeland led the metal wall panel installation at the Lehigh Valley camp. For the Arizona and Ohio camps, where the campers learned to install metal roofing, Jerry Spores and Brian Silvius assisted in Arizona and Matt Jacobs supported the Ohio camp.

About Let’s Build Construction Camp for Girls

The Let’s Build Construction Camp for Girls was founded with a goal to ignite the spark within girls to explore the built environment through architecture, engineering, construction and building materials manufacturing (AECM) related careers.

Let's Build Construction Camp for Girls was created in 2016 to take a proactive approach to addressing workforce shortages and increasing women participation in the AECM industry by introducing young girls to the opportunities available to them. This unique construction camp puts power into their hands by giving them the chance to build physical structures in a non-judgmental team environment while also exploring complementary career opportunities through field trips, games and interactive discussions. The special nature of Let's Build organically teaches essential life lessons in leadership, communication, confidence and problem solving to complement the technical training. In 2020, the organizers of the Camp were incorporated as Let's Build Construction Camp, Inc. (LBCC). Let's Build Construction Camp, Inc. is a registered 501(c)3 non-profit organization.

About ATAS International, Inc.

Founded in 1963, ATAS International, Inc. is a leading manufacturer of metal roofing, wall cladding, ceilings, perimeter edge metal and accessories. The ATAS portfolio features an expansive selection of products available in aluminum, steel, zinc, stainless steel and copper. Standard profiles include narrow and wide ribbed wall panels, corrugated styles, architectural plate systems, standing seam and batten seam roof systems, metal shingles, shakes, tiles and more. Additional options include curved, tapered and perforated panels; concealed or exposed fasteners; smooth or embossed textures; horizontal and vertical applications; and a choice of over 40 stock colors with 70% PVDF finish.

With sustainability at the forefront of modern building design, ATAS proudly supports green building objectives with high performance solutions, such as solar-ready roof panels, insulated metal panels, cool roofing products and solar air heating wall panels. The ATAS team consists of product and market specialists that provide a high level of support for your project, from initial discovery and design to installation.  ATAS has two ISO 9001:2015 certified manufacturing locations in the United States: the headquarters in Allentown, Pennsylvania and their facility in Mesa, Arizona.  ATAS also has a second location in Allentown, Pennsylvania and one in University Park, Illinois.  On March 18, 2025, ATAS expanded its portfolio with Metalwërks® Architectural Plate Systems, located in Elkton, Maryland.  

For more information about ATAS International, please visit www.atas.com or call 610.395.8445.