Q: Please introduce yourself, your school standing and your position in the group!A: Hello! My name is Moira Gion and I am a junior in Mechanical Engineering. I am the Vice President of the Portland State University, Society of Women Engineers (SWE) chapter.
Q: What are you most looking forward to this year? A: This year we are looking forward to getting more students involved with SWE to build an even stronger team that can contribute to the community at the Maseeh College of Engineering. Our goal for this year is to develop a solid foundation for our group so that it can be successful in the years to come!
Q: What are some exciting new events/projects your group will be starting?A: Some exciting new events that our group will be developing this year are webinar nights and collegiate leadership coaching workshops. One of our goals for this year is to also organize an outreach program/team to work with students in K-12, to introduce them into engineering!
Q: What can students get out of by being involved with your group?
A: Being involved with SWE is a great opportunity to network with other engineering students and professional engineers. Students will develop many leadership skills through SWE involvement. Some of these skills include: coordinating events, communicating with teams, setting and implementing deadlines, working with K-12 students, and marketing. Being a part of SWE allows you to cultivate a community of support with your peers. We can help each other and be resources for each other’s success!
A: Being involved with SWE is a great opportunity to network with other engineering students and professional engineers. Students will develop many leadership skills through SWE involvement. Some of these skills include: coordinating events, communicating with teams, setting and implementing deadlines, working with K-12 students, and marketing. Being a part of SWE allows you to cultivate a community of support with your peers. We can help each other and be resources for each other’s success!
Q: How can others help?
A: One way that people within our community can help us is by giving informative presentations or leading workshops on a topic that they work in professionally and are recognized for. The topics do not necessarily have to be related to engineering if the subject matter could still benefit an engineering career. For example, a presentation on self-branding, being entrepreneur or innovator, or even on improving presentation skills, are all topics that could become useful in a future career in engineering. And of course, donations are always greatly appreciated!
Q: What is a successful crowdfunding campaign make? What can this support enable you to accomplish?
A: The more we can raise through this crowd funding campaign the more opportunities we can provide to our student body. For example, if we are able to reach our goal amount, then we will be able to pay for hotel and transportation for up to 12 of our members to attend the regional conferences this year as well as sponsor 10 memberships for students who want to be a part of the SWE international organization, and cannot afford it. Reaching our fundraising goal at the beginning of the year means that we can focus more on providing opportunities and resources to our members!
The mutual support and network of other women, an underrepresented group in engineering cannot be understated. It can be the difference between a woman staying in engineering, or leaving the field. The support that other members of SWE can over provide each other truly does keep more women in engineering, which the field clearly needs.