Vice President Outreach Committees

Science Fairs

The Baltimore-Washington Section usually supports four science fairs annually, two in Northern Virginia and two in the Maryland/Baltimore area. Typically student participation includes grades 7-12th with exhibits ranging from engineering and computer science to chemistry, physics, and environmental science. One of the greatest benefits to the student participants is the opportunity to discuss projects and topics of mutual interest with engineers and scientists from professional organizations. It is also a great opportunity for Section members to meet with local aspiring engineers and scientists.

Scholarships

The Scholarship Program recognizes outstanding and motivated high school seniors entering engineering studies and continuing engineering students with monetary awards. This program provides encouragement and financial assistance to women who have chosen to pursue a career in engineering. Candidates are evaluated based on merit, and quality and content of the written essay. There is a database of addresses for local high schools and colleges. Applications are mailed out to more than 150 area high schools and colleges.  The scholarships are presented to the winners at the April Membership meeting.

 

Engineers Week

Family Day is held in February during National Engineers Week at the National Building Museum.  A career guidance booth is set up to showcase career guidance activities. The booth in the past has highlighted the video "She's the Engineer" and interactive demonstrations. The event is held for families and their children to explore careers in engineering. Literature on SWE and engineering disciplines is passed out. More than 3000 students usually visit the booth and participate in our hands on activity.  Several contacts are usually made for participation in school career days and for our outreach program.

K-12 Student Outreach

This early influence program introduces career opportunities in math, science, and engineering to young girls in the elementary and middle school grade levels. Through use of videos, demonstrations, experiments, and classroom discussions, this program answers the questions 'What is an engineer?’, 'Why should I become an engineer?', and 'How do I prepare to become an engineer?'. Sometimes we are invited back for end of the year assemblies to present SWE certificates to young women who excel in science.

 

Girl Scouts

The Girls Scouts program is focused on helping troops earn the “Making it Matter” Engineering patch.  This program will focus on 1-2 large Making it Matter Badge days in MD and VA.  Rather than travel to each troop individually, we will concentrate on a specific geographic area and invite numerous troops from that area to attend. Upon successful completion, each girl will receive the Making it Matter Patch and a SWE badge.

 

Collegiate Section Liaison

This committee provides counselors for the collegiate sections in the Baltimore-Washington area. The main requirement to be a counselor is that you are a professional SWE member. A counselor spends up to a few hours a month communicating with collegiate section officers to give guidance and act as a liaison between the collegiate section and the Baltimore-Washington Section. SWE counselors are needed to satisfy student section charters.

Are you interested in more information? Email us at leadership@swe-bws.org