Balancing rigorous coursework and competitive programs can be incredibly challenging for female engineering students on campus. The Society of Women Engineers, or SWE, works hard to overcome this challenge and provide a community to blossoming female engineers.
Since the club’s start in 2017, it has slowly become a safe haven for students in need of camaraderie and support. President of the club, Jenna Durand, has witnessed firsthand the importance of creating an inclusive space for women in STEM.
“I think that the Society of Women Engineers organization is super important because when you’re in STEM classes, you don’t often see a lot of female presence and SWE is especially important to me because it gives a space where all girls in the same major can come together,” said Durand.
Durand feels that in STEM spaces, it could be hard for women to find their place, and SWE is determined to fix that. In a major as intensive and competitive as engineering, she feels that it can be discouraging to do everything on your own.
“When I was a freshman, my major was civil engineering. I was pretty intimidated by the whole thing of it being either I’m gonna make it through, and I’ll be an engineer at the end or not,” Durand said. “There were so many unknowns, so I thought joining SWE would be the perfect opportunity to learn more about what engineering is and it was.”
Vice president of SWE, Meaghan Keane, has felt pressure herself to be on the same path as other students in her STEM classes. She hopes that SWE can help diminish the competitive environment that can arise in rigorous courses.
“Engineering can be really intimidating. When I first started, I was so intimidated because the only people you hear talking about grades are the people who are getting hundreds, and no one’s really getting that besides those people,” said Keane.
From resume workshops to guest speakers, SWE takes into account everyone’s needs. Durand and Keane strive to create events that can help students decompress from their typically hefty workload while also setting them up for success.
“We do events on the library lawn and we do professional development as well but we just love having a good time,” said Durand. “We do a bunch of different crafts and activities
that leads to networking, and it’s a space where everyone can come together and meet new people.”
One of the club’s largest opportunities was attending the Society of Women Engineers conference in New Orleans. Last fall, Durand and eight other members were able to go to Louisiana and learn from fellow passionate female engineers.
“We went to the conference in New Orleans. It’s the world’s largest conference for women in stem and there were all sorts of career fairs, and I learned so much about being an engineer, but also like becoming a person out of college,” said Keane.
Some of the members even left the conference with job opportunities. Though the club’s name focuses on women and engineers, it is open to anyone, including non-STEM-specific majors.
“Everyone is welcome. It says Society of Women Engineers. So it can seem maybe a little intimidating, if that’s not your major, but we have engineering people, math, science, art, philosophy, some like pre-med, all sorts of different majors,” Keane said.
The Society of Women Engineers is female-dominated but invites male attendees while further creating a space for women in male-dominated fields. For those interested in joining SWE, all upcoming events are on Eagle Link.
“The club is important for campus life because it doesn’t just empower women, it also empowers men in this male-dominated field to learn how to support women and the types of struggles they might go through,” said Keane.
