THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, May 16, 1996 TAG: 9605140102
SECTION: NORFOLK COMPASS PAGE: 02 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JOAN C. STANUS, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Medium: 59 lines
As a young girl, Jeanette Haas didn't know a miter saw from a drill bit.
But she did know she wanted to make things. She just didn't know how.
Finally, strapped for funds to furnish her home after getting out of college, she bought a hammer, some nails and few boards, then made herself a table.
Twenty years later, she has her own wood shop, works as a shipyard electrician and has helped coordinate several female-built Habitat for Humanity homes. Her Colonial Place home is filled with her own custom-made furniture.
If only she had known how to wield a hammer earlier, what she might have done.
Now, as a Girl Scout leader, she's aiming to change a few stereotypes about girls and tools. If Haas has her way, her charges will be making far more than a simple table by the time they graduate from college.
With her guidance, the pre-teens have designed and built an 8-foot-tall wooden tree house for a children's playground at the Episcopal Church of the Ascension in Talbot Park. They paid for the materials with $300 they earned selling cookies.
``I didn't have an opportunity to learn this stuff as a kid, so I wanted to make sure they did,'' said Haas, 42.
The 10- and 11-year-olds from Troop 257 have worked on their project for the last few months. Since few of the girls ever had worked with screwdrivers, electric saws or hammers before, Haas gave them lessons on the various kinds of tools, their purposes and how to use them.
To get their feet wet, the girls constructed their own tool boxes and napkin holders. Then, buoyed by their proficiency and Haas' enthusiasm, they decided to tackle the playhouse.
``At first we thought it would be too hard,'' said Allegra Gibson, a fourth-grader at Granby Elementary. ``But it was fun.
They spent several meetings designing the playhouse, then they began constructing sections in Haas' wood shop. On April 28, in a five-hour marathon, they assembled the sections on the playground. Another Sunday afternoon was spent finishing the job.
During the construction, they had an audience of critics.
``There were a bunch of boys playing hockey on the parking lot out there, and they said, `Girls shouldn't be using tools; that's men's work,' '' recalled Sofia George, 11. ``I said, `Whatever' ... and kept working.''
Despite a few nicked fingers and bruised egos, the Girl Scouts persevered.
``It's not really that hard,'' said Lindsay Anderson, 11. ``When you look at people doing it, you understand it better, and then it's really easy.''
Even the troop's assistant leader, Jane Hedgecock, got her first lesson in woodworking by helping with the project.
``I had never drilled holes before, and it was fun,'' she said. ``But I don't think we'd have ever done this if it hadn't been for Jeanette. She's just a great influence on these girls.'' by CNB