SWE holds this event yearly, with most of the participating troops being daisies or brownies.
ANNA SEGOTA/THE QUADRANGLE
By Anna Segota, Staff Writer
This past weekend, the Manhattan College chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) hosted an event for local Girl Scouts to learn about STEM.
The Society of Women Engineers is a national service and education organization. According to their website, the group strives to, “Empower women to achieve their full potential in careers as engineers and leaders; expand the image of the engineering and technology professions as a positive force in improving the quality of life, and demonstrate the value of diversity and inclusion.”
Seeing as engineering is often portrayed as a male-dominated field, solidarity between women is especially important.
“During freshman and sophomore year I was wanting to meet more women in engineering,” Peyton Hayes, a senior mechanical engineering major said. “I remember during my freshman year I was one of the few women in my classes and many other girls had the same experience. I heard about SWE and I thought it was a great way to meet people and I just stuck with it.”
The MC chapter of SWE works diligently to fulfill its mission both within the school of engineering and the broader community. Every year, SWE does outreach work with local Girl Scout troops, having them come and participate in a day of learning and fun. They do many activities, including conducting experiments related to the different engineering disciplines offered at Manhattan College.
“It’s a really good experience to teach girls about engineering,” Gabriella Morelli, SWE’s social media chair said. “It’s a bit challenging, you have to explain it in a way that kids understand and that makes them interested to learn. Overall it’s a great way for the girls to learn about what engineering is, and hopefully they decide to go into it.”
This collaboration comes as no surprise, as the Girl Scouts of Greater New York have been dedicated to, “Building girls of courage, confidence, and character who make the world a better place,” according to the website’s mission statement.
The group strives both as a whole and within the individual troops to expose girls to as many opportunities and teach them as many life skills as they can.
“It’s great for her development,” said mother Anna Campos, regarding her daughter’s time with the Girl Scouts. “It’s such a good experience for her. And she’s learning to be more independent and to develop her people skills.”
The experiments the girls participated in ranged from creating snow to building make-shift windmills and structurally sound miniature houses. While all part of the umbrella of engineering, chemical, civil, mechanical, electrical and computer engineering all offer very different skill sets and interests.
“Today is about showing the girls what engineering is really like,” Yolanda Leon Leiva, one of the co-head coordinators of the event said. “Growing up, girls don’t really know what it is about, we want to give them that opportunity and make it fun for them, so they know there’s girls in it. Engineering is usually seen as a masculine type of thing, so we want them to know that they have an opportunity for it here and it’s fun.”
Parents of the scouts are also very supportive of these events, allowing their daughters to explore deeper into STEM and what their future could look like.
“I think that learning these types of things are important,” one mother, Linda Cohen Stumer, said. “These events open up a different world for them, based on the other things that they are currently learning in school.”
Overall, the Manhattan College chapter of SWE and the Girl Scouts came together for another very successful day of solidarity and joy. Another day of the program will be held on April 21, for scouts who couldn’t attend the previous one.