Tuesday, February 12, 2013

Member of the Month, October: Catie Barry

Catie is to the right, helping out at UFO!
I’ve have been involved with RPI SWE since freshman year. My experience with it has been phenomenal. Through SWE I’ve been able to reach out to the community, do things I normally would not do, and make great friends. When I joined SWE I really got involved with outreach and volunteered at events such as UFO and Girl Scout Engineering day. These two events encourage kids to pursue a career in math and science. I had so much fun volunteering at these events because I love math and science and it is fun to work with kids and teach them about it. Through SWE I was also able to attend the SWE annual conference in Houston, TX. I am very much a homebody and would never travel farther than 150 miles without my family yet I went to Texas and had a great experience. I talked to companies which was big for me because I can be shy sometimes. I also was able attend a presentation and talk to people from the Walt Disney Company. I was excited about this because I hope to be an Imagineer (Engineer who works in the Disney parks) someday. Lastly I’ve made great friends through SWE. I’ve met so many nice people here who support one another and are just great to be around. I am really glad I joined SWE, it’s one of the best decisions I’ve made.

Saturday, February 9, 2013

Member of the Month, September: Konane Bay

Konane is to the far left, working hard on her airplane at the last UFO!
A few weeks ago I walk into the SWE GBM late because of another time commitment. I go and sit next to one of my friends and immediately told by them I was September member of the month. As soon as the meeting was completely I was informed by others in SWE. This is just how SWE is we congratulate each other on each other’s achievements.

I have been a member of RPI SWE since beginning of freshman year. I started participating in the outreach meetings and now today I am currently planning the UFO program. The UFO program is a 4 hour long program with girl scouts to teach them what aeronautical engineering is. We are planning to have 3 different activities that include plane launchers, bottle rockets, and balloons jets. I am happy that I have received the opportunity to help organize and run the UFO program for SWE. I am glad I joined SWE those two years ago not only for the outreach opportunities, but for the people I have met and become friends with.

Member of the Month, November: Donna Creighton

Donna at Girl Scout Engineering Day Fall 2012
Last semester, as a part of SWE, I had the opportunity mentor a team of girl scouts in elementary school for the Jr. FIRST LEGO League (Jr. FLL). FIRST is an organization of programs designed to engage students in STEM fields through robotics challenges and projects. In high school I participated in the FIRST Robotics Competition, so when I heard that mentors were needed for Jr. FLL, I knew I wanted to help out!

We were up for a challenge, but a fun one! In Jr. FLL, groups of students aged 6-9 are given a theme, which they then research and create a LEGO project and poster on. This year’s theme was Super Seniors and so we did a lot of research about what life was like for senior citizens. The team met once a week for a few months to talk about senior citizens and work on creating the LEGO project and poster.

The girls really loved creating things with LEGOs; you could tell they had quite the imaginations! Although I helped, along with other mentors, to facilitate the girls to work on the project and as a team, a lot of my job was to just see what they came up with. It was awesome to see how the girls were able to create their own simple machines to make their ideas come to life. In the end, they created a model showing information sources from the past and present, to show how things have changed for senior citizens. They worked really hard on their project and ended up with a great model, complete with a library, including a book that you could open and close, as well as computer with a motorized spinning chair!

It was really rewarding getting to work with these girls for Jr. FLL. While they might not be old enough to know what they want to do for a career yet, I really think their experiences with Jr. FLL will help them become more confident in themselves and their ability to succeed in technical fields someday. In the end, I think that’s what SWE is all about anyways—not forcing girls down a technical path they wouldn’t enjoy, but showing them that they have the ability to be successful in engineering. SWE is such a great organization because it not only supports women who have chosen to pursue engineering during college and throughout their career, but also reaches out to girls to get them interested in engineering.