University of New Hampshire’s Society of Women Engineers (SWE) visited Dover Middle School on Tuesday as part of a six-week outreach program. The goal is to encourage young girls interested in engineering to become more assimilated with advanced math and science.
SWE is a not-for-profit organization that supports female engineering students on campus. Founded in 1950, SWE is known locally for their social, educational, and outreach programs.
“We support women engineers on campus by building a network,” said SWE President Meagan McCowan.
SWE is currently comprised of 17 students--twelve active members and five officers. The organization is predominantly community service-based.
“One of our biggest things is outreach,” McCowan said. “We visit local middle schools and run hands on activities to get girls introduce to thinking like engineers.”
SWE’s first middle school outreach project began at a Tuesday after school program at Dover Middle School. There are 20 middle school students participating in the program.
“We always begin with a brief intro on how the activity relates to real world engineering problems,” McCowan said, “so the girls get an idea of the greater context of engineering and how it can be used to help people.”
The outreach program is run through The National Girls Collaborative Project™ (NGCP). Active in 38 states, NGCP helps to provide and find funding for programs working with young girls to pursue science, technology, engineering and math.
Members of SWE will visit Dover Middle School once a week for six weeks. Each session lasts approximately one hour and 15 minutes, spent doing various educational activities.
“The after school programs are hands on activities,” said SWE Secretary Victoria Ward. “Today we had them [the middle school students] build waste water treatment plants using soda bottles, gravels and sand.”
Over the next six weeks, the middle school students will participate in various hands on activities. Some of these activities include making ice cream, experimenting with electrical wiring, and dissecting mechanical devices to learn how they function.
Although this is SWE’s first outreach project with middle schools, they are also continuing their involvement with local clubs such as Girl Scouts of America. They are also continuing an additional partnership with Oyster River High School that was established last year.
According to SWE’s faculty advisor May-Win Thein, it’s the newer programs with the middle schools that have the biggest impact.
“Middle school is a critical age as far as girls getting it into their heads that math and engineering are for boys and that young girls don’t go into those fields,” Thein said, “and so we’re trying to change that by running these programs at that age group.”
Thein explained how by high school, most girls have already made up their minds about gender roles and the professional world.
“By SWE women doing this,” Thein said, “it helps breaks the mold of ‘oh, it’s only guys that are the science teachers or that do the science and engineering.’ I’d like to see that girls are not inhibited by stereotypes about what they should or should not be interested in.”
SWE raises money for their outreach projects by doing fundraising and cold calling. They establish funding by selling grilled cheese and t-shirts on campus, and through networking with local companies.
“The CEPS [College of Engineering and Physical Sciences] advisor and board have been very helpful with supporting us financially and giving us their time and advice,” Thein said. “We’re very thankful for that.”
In addition to local outreach projects, SWE works to develop networking and professional skills, recruit new members, and host various development programs.
“One of the things we do,” Ward said, “is invite outside professional speakers to come in and talk to our students about what it’s like to be in the real world balancing life and a career.”
SWE has an overarching goal that transcends through all aspects of the organization. The group works hard to form a coalition among all female students interested in math, engineering and the sciences, both on campus and in the community.
“For the women that are here,” Thein said, “It’s not that anybody needs support. when you’re in a class with a bunch of guys, its nice to be in a group where there are more women, especially since this campus is predominantly women.”
SWE hopes to expand their outreach projects to more middle schools this year--a badge of accomplishment they will take with them to the national conference on Oct. 8 in Houston, Texas.
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