GRIT’s Beginnings…

Girls Representing In Trades (GRIT) was founded in 2017 by Margaret Hoyt and Roe Erin through the Missoula YWCA along with it’s counterpart program Girls Using Their Skills! (GUTS!). This original iteration of GRIT put on a number of exciting workshops for middle school and high school girls, ranging in topics from welding, carpentry, bike mechanics, butchery, STEM projects, and so much more!
We are so grateful to the YWCA for helping to create a strong foundation for this program in the Missoula community, and we are forever grateful for all the work that Margaret Hoyt, Roe Erin, Sam Duncan and all the previous GRIT facilitators have done for young women in trades!

GRIT’s New Era

While GRIT took a hiatus in 2020, the wants and needs for a trades based program for the young women of Montana continued,
and so the YWCA has passed us the torch!

GRIT has been reinstated in 2024 by the Missoula College of Industrial Technology

and it’s partnership with the Job Site Ready Program.