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Society of Women Engineers lifts up women in the field

Hannah Manning
Connector Editor

The Society of Women Engineers (SWE) provides a haven for the underrepresented in the field of engineering. By hosting networking luncheons, philanthropic events, professional development sessions and social events, the club aims to encourage women in engineering to reach their full potential in their line of work.

Women engineers of numerous concentrations are invited to gather in Southwick 240 on Mondays at 5 p.m. for a general body meeting. Most members are mechanical engineering majors, with many electrical and computer engineers as well. President Emily Boehm, a senior majoring in chemical engineering, is one of numerous chemical engineers making their mark in the club.

SWE not only focuses on college students but prospective engineers still in high school. The group hosted the Women in Engineering Luncheon for aspiring engineers on Sunday, Oct. 23. The event, held in Lydon 110, centered around networking opportunities and appealing to anyone interested in pursuing engineering as a career path.

The club is gearing up for the SWE National Conference in Philadelphia, which will be held from Oct. 27-29. The event, which is held yearly in different cities across the United States, is an opportunity for the club to connect with other chapters in the United States and even around the world. It features workshops, seminars and a massive career fair.

“Those experiences are once in a lifetime. It’s like 8,000 women together for one cause. It’s really, really awesome,” said Boehm.

The number of attendants from UMass Lowell’s chapter of SWE is slowly increasing. Boehm said that 20 members are going to Philadelphia this year. Last year’s attendance was also 20, and the previous year’s was nine.

Previous dalliances have had the group travel to Los Angeles and Nashville.

Not even a 10-hour delay at Logan Airport could keep SWE from attending the National Conference in Los Angeles two years ago. “We got [to L.A.] at 6 a.m.; the conference started at 7. And we literally just showered and went to the conference. No sleep. Like ‘alright, let’s do this,” said Boehm.

Needless to say, the club hopes that situation will not happen this year.

At the core of the group is comradery. SWE hosts study sessions during their general meetings at around midterms so that members can carve out an hour to devote to their studies, while also leaning on the experience of the older members.

Vice President Jacqueline Noel, a senior chemical engineering major, says that she personally enjoys helping members that are younger than her with their coursework. Many of the members have to take the same classes, so the senior members can interject with advice as well as guide the freshmen and sophomores in their work.

“When I was a freshman, I used to say, ‘What was it like? What was it like? Help me’ But now that I’m here I’m like, ‘I can do it; I can help,’” said Noel.

Both Boehm and Noel have been with the group for all four years. They became the secretaries of the club their sophomore year and served for four semesters before eventually earning the positions of president and vice president.

For the past four years, membership in SWE has been steadily climbing. There are over 200 members on the mailing list, and about 50 of those members are considered “dedicated,” where they attend at least one meeting a month and two outside events, or simply come to as many meetings as they are able to. These members are allotted privileges such as an invitation to the National Conference as well as other perks.

Boehm says that watching membership rise is one of the most rewarding experiences for her as a SWE member. “I became secretary of SWE my sophomore year, and it was a really small group then. We were meeting in a classroom on the fourth floor of Ball [Hall] that’s a closet now. And between then and now, it’s grown four times the size,” said Boehm.

“It’s rewarding to be a part of such a society where many people are working towards the same goal. There aren’t a lot of women in engineering, so it’s cool to be a part of something so rewarding,” said Noel.

Both women say that involvement with the group has personally helped them to assert themselves and taught them to speak in front of a large group of people. Boehm, who used to be “so, so, so, so shy” by her own account, is able to conduct entire meetings. Noel believes that SWE helped to give her a voice.

“I feel like it’s shaped me into a person with a voice. I’m not afraid to state my opinion anywhere. I have confidence in what I do and I take pride in what I do. It’s cool to say that I’m studying engineering, and this is what [SWE] is doing,” said Noel.

Hannah Manning

Hannah Manning is the Editor in Chief of the UMass Lowell Connector. A native of Haverhill, Mass., she is a senior working towards her bachelor's in English with a concentration in journalism and professional writing. She likes hockey, music and her fellow staff members at the Connector.

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