Girls and women had a chance to get some hands-on experience of working for the Canadian Coast Guard.
The Achieve Anything Foundation hosted the event at the Sea Island base in Richmond Saturday. It hopes to inspire more females to become interested in fields that are traditionally dominated by men.
"There are so few women in the technical trades: stem field, science, technology, engineering and math," said Kirsten Brazier, the president of the foundation.
"You can't expect the situation to just resolve itself if women don't know these interesting careers exist. You can't just expect them to show up and fill the void."
Livia Phillips, 19, said she was drawn to the event because she's been searching for a fulfilling career opportunity and she wondered if the coast guard is her calling.
"It does interest me because they get to help people and at the same time, they get to pay attention to the environment," she said.
The young women participated in search and rescue exercises, dive demonstrations, drive the zodiac rescue craft and ride in the hovercraft.
"Our objective is to put girls and women out at sea, put tools in their hands, take them in the cockpits of aircraft and get them to experience that for themselves," she said.
The Achieve Anything Foundation will be hosting similar events with the Royal Canadian Navy and Vancouver police.
With files from CTV Vancouver's Julie Nolin
