International Baccalaureate (IB) Diploma Candidate Ziva Salan '26 reflects on her Creativity, Activity and Service (CAS) project with SOMA BuildHers, a nonprofit she co-founded, which empowers young women through learning and leading construction projects.

When we invest in girls, we invest in the blueprints of our future. This has been an idea that has followed me throughout my life. A little over a year ago, I co-founded SOMA BuildHers, a nonprofit founded by girls for girls, dedicated to empowering young women through learning and leading construction projects. Based in South Orange and Maplewood (hence the name SOMA), New Jersey, the SOMA BuildHers team has partnered with local contractor Amy Straub to build community projects, lead woodworking workshops for women and kids, and learn the art and business of construction. SOMA BuildHers provides women with the resources, mentorship, and opportunities they need to thrive in the male-dominated construction industry and all other facets of life. Since its founding, I have taken the role of Director of Operations and Project Management. 

Before starting this nonprofit some members of the SOMA BuildHers team including myself were involved in Girl Scouts. My Girl Scout troop was far from typical; instead of caring about earning different badges, we poured our efforts into empowering young girls. In 2018, my troop compared the Girl Scout promise and law to the Boy Scout (now Scouts) oath and law. When doing this, my troopmates and I realized that in the Boy Scouts' oath and law, there was definitive language such as “I will.” This contrasted the Girl Scouts’ law and promise which used weaker language such as “I will try.” Although this is only a three-letter difference my troop felt as though this prohibits Girl Scouts from leading a life of confidence. After this realization, my troop started the movement #IWill. For six years, my troop collaborated with gender psychologist Dr. Cindy Whaler, presented presentations to international corporations, and lobbied at both local and national levels until our proposal was voted on in the 2023 National Girl Scout Conference in Orlando, FL. At the conference, my troop learned that this small change intended to instill more confidence in young girls across the country was too drastic of a change; and thus our vote failed. Still committed to our goal of supporting girls and women, my troop decided to quit Girl Scouts and start our nonprofit SOMA BuildHers. 

 

I am a junior International Baccalaureate (IB) candidate. Many people know the IB for its rigorous course work and the skill of critical thinking that it develops in the candidates but the program means more than that. While scoring well on your IB exams does matter the program also adds equal emphasis on developing well-rounded students. This is included in the curriculum; all IBDP students complete creativity, activity, or service (CAS) experiences and are required to submit written reflections on them, demonstrating their fulfillment of the seven CAS learning outcomes. Students must also complete a CAS Project—a collaborative, month-long project defined by one of the three CAS strands. I knew that for my CAS project, I wanted to do some type of service because, throughout my whole life, I have wanted to help people. So, I decided to use the Happy Spaces 2.0 project-–a collaboration between SOMA BuildHers, Amy Straub (local contractor), and 12 other designers. This was a perfect CAS project because I worked collaboratively, and developed my construction and leadership skills all while addressing the global issue of housing inequity by supporting teenage girls/boys, disabled single women, women living with HIV/AIDS, mommy and me (border babies), and families.  

My CAS Project, Happy Spaces 2.0, brought together local designers to reimagine the Isaiah House in East Orange, New Jersey. The Isaiah House is a transitional housing program that is vital to our local community. It takes in single women and families and provides them with food, shelter, and employment until they can transition into permanent housing. The Isaiah House located in East Orange consists of three connected houses with more than 20 rooms in total. Each designer was in charge of redesigning and decorating a room. Amy Straub, who does custom built-ins and storage, was asked to install all of the closets in all three of the houses and SOMA BuildHers helped her with doing this enormous task. As the Director of Operations and Project Management, I helped work extremely closely with her. Together we designed each closet, organized the project, and stayed on the site later to complete the project. From what we have heard the Happy Spaces 2.0 has been a success and the work that we and the 12 other designers did have transformed the space completely! 

Since Happy Spaces 2.0, SOMA BuildHers has continued to strengthen our relationship with the Isaiah House. We have recently started a new project with the Isaiah House where we build wooden chests stocked with needed supplies. These chests are then raffled off to families and once they move to permanent housing they take the chests with them. I am looking forward to providing these chests to the Isaiah House families because having them will offer them some stability and comfort as they transition into permanent housing, providing them with the essential supplies they need for their new chapter in life. 

Being a part of the SOMA BuildHers team has been a life-changing experience. I know the work that I do is transformational for people's lives. Before starting the nonprofit I never imagined the impact I would have on my community and others. The transformation of the Isaiah House after Happy Spaces 2.0 and the potential implications of our future projects have shown me the power each individual possesses. The journey from the #IWill movement to the creation of SOMA BuildHers has reinforced my belief in the importance of encouraging young women and girls to take leadership roles, challenge societal norms, and make a difference in the world. When we empower girls to lead in the field of construction and in all other facets of life, we’re laying the foundation for a future built by the leaders of tomorrow.