Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day (IAGTE) is one of the most beloved days out of the entire year for SWE-HA. It’s a day where we can show the future generation of female engineers that there is a place for them in this world, and pay it forward with a unique event that past generations never had the opportunity to experience as young girls. This event exists as a single day out of the year, but our members spend several months leading up to this day to ensure that it’s everything a young and energetic girl would hope it to be.
IAGTE has been hosted by SWE-HA for the past 7 years, and this year’s event will be the first virtual IAGTE. This year’s theme is “Women We STEMmed From” and is focused on highlighting the female trailblazers and pioneers of the engineering and technology fields. We thought it was important to show young girls that the possibilities are endless for people who look like them.
A SWEster is the name we give to our fellow SWE members because we are not only members in this organization, we are sisters who share common goals and hardships within this career path. The SWEsters who planned this year’s event had a tall task set up for them due to Covid-19. “The obvious decision was that we had to take this event online,” event Co-Chair and Bridge Engineer Karina Filipovich explained. “We still wanted the event to be exciting and interactive, but wanted to avoid making it just a huge conference call on Zoom.”
The activities chosen for this year’s event are meant to educate and engage the girls on women in STEM history. Molly McGiles, event Co-Chair and Chemical Engineer felt really passionate about showcasing diversity to young girls at this pivotal time in their lives. “Connecting the girls to real life inspiration not only allows them to see themselves as an engineer, but it lets them keep imagining and researching. We want every girl to be able to have a connection to an engineer who looks like them so that they can REALLY see themselves as an engineer. This age group is when girls are most likely to make the decision on if STEM is in their futures. No matter what a student looks like, we want to show them that there was someone just like them who did it and you can too. Houston is such a diverse city and we have a unique opportunity to help shape what STEM looks like in the future by giving these girls a hands-on experience where they can be inspired and encouraged to do more.”
Leteshia Lowe is the Activities Coordinator and an Electrical Engineer with several years of experience in organizing this event. She obtained a Master of Education, and uses her experience to craft unique hands-on activities for the girls to participate in. "With the help of volunteers, we selected activities that we thought would be engaging and challenging while still providing examples of how the engineering design process works. Having a virtual event this year does provide a level of uniqueness, in that students have more autonomy over the work, allowing them to be more independent learners with volunteers to guide them and answer their questions. Doing the hands-on activities, incorporating technology that we use on a daily basis, further facilitates exploring the concepts being taught."
Tamara Rodriguez-Diaz, SWE-HA’s Vice President of Outreach and Civil Engineer, is excited to see the outcome of the hard work the planning committee has put into this year’s event. “What I love the most is knowing that all of the hard work behind the scenes is to inspire the next generation of female leaders. I always get excited to see the ladies engaged in the activities, ask questions to the speaker, and what I look most forward to is seeing the many raised hands of the students wanting to share what they learned and how exciting the event was for them.”
Special thanks also is given to Andria Carpenter, Steven Boyd, and Jena Lococo for their work in coordinating registration, logistics, and marketing.
IAGTE will be held on November 14th, 2020. We hope to see you there!
Post by Jena Lococo
IAGTE has been hosted by SWE-HA for the past 7 years, and this year’s event will be the first virtual IAGTE. This year’s theme is “Women We STEMmed From” and is focused on highlighting the female trailblazers and pioneers of the engineering and technology fields. We thought it was important to show young girls that the possibilities are endless for people who look like them.
A SWEster is the name we give to our fellow SWE members because we are not only members in this organization, we are sisters who share common goals and hardships within this career path. The SWEsters who planned this year’s event had a tall task set up for them due to Covid-19. “The obvious decision was that we had to take this event online,” event Co-Chair and Bridge Engineer Karina Filipovich explained. “We still wanted the event to be exciting and interactive, but wanted to avoid making it just a huge conference call on Zoom.”
The activities chosen for this year’s event are meant to educate and engage the girls on women in STEM history. Molly McGiles, event Co-Chair and Chemical Engineer felt really passionate about showcasing diversity to young girls at this pivotal time in their lives. “Connecting the girls to real life inspiration not only allows them to see themselves as an engineer, but it lets them keep imagining and researching. We want every girl to be able to have a connection to an engineer who looks like them so that they can REALLY see themselves as an engineer. This age group is when girls are most likely to make the decision on if STEM is in their futures. No matter what a student looks like, we want to show them that there was someone just like them who did it and you can too. Houston is such a diverse city and we have a unique opportunity to help shape what STEM looks like in the future by giving these girls a hands-on experience where they can be inspired and encouraged to do more.”
Leteshia Lowe is the Activities Coordinator and an Electrical Engineer with several years of experience in organizing this event. She obtained a Master of Education, and uses her experience to craft unique hands-on activities for the girls to participate in. "With the help of volunteers, we selected activities that we thought would be engaging and challenging while still providing examples of how the engineering design process works. Having a virtual event this year does provide a level of uniqueness, in that students have more autonomy over the work, allowing them to be more independent learners with volunteers to guide them and answer their questions. Doing the hands-on activities, incorporating technology that we use on a daily basis, further facilitates exploring the concepts being taught."
Tamara Rodriguez-Diaz, SWE-HA’s Vice President of Outreach and Civil Engineer, is excited to see the outcome of the hard work the planning committee has put into this year’s event. “What I love the most is knowing that all of the hard work behind the scenes is to inspire the next generation of female leaders. I always get excited to see the ladies engaged in the activities, ask questions to the speaker, and what I look most forward to is seeing the many raised hands of the students wanting to share what they learned and how exciting the event was for them.”
Special thanks also is given to Andria Carpenter, Steven Boyd, and Jena Lococo for their work in coordinating registration, logistics, and marketing.
IAGTE will be held on November 14th, 2020. We hope to see you there!
Post by Jena Lococo
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