This year our judges were Joan Fisher, Kathy Grauer, Candace Gray, Debra Kimberling, and the Science Fair Chair, Laura Meldrum. Judging was much different than usual as everything was done virtually. Together we evaluated four Junior and seven Senior projects. Thanks to the judges for taking time from their work day to select those most deserving of a SWE Award.
Our award recipients are as follows:

• Senior Division First Place to Maya, a Junior at Canyon Crest Academy for her “A Novel Multi-Layered Method For Image Steganography” Computer Science exhibit.
• Senior Division Second Place to Bella Rose, a Sophomore at University City High School for her “Clean Coastal Energy by a Piston-Buoy Rack and Pinion WEC System” Energy & Transport Engineering exhibit. Ms. Bella Rose was also honored by the Office of Naval Research, the American Society of Civil Engineers, the General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation, the Marine Technology Society, the Professional Engineers in California Government, the San Diego County Water Authority, the Society of American Military Engineers - San Diego Post, and the Torrey Pines Docent Society. And, she received the Stockholm Jr. Water Prize.
• Senior Division Third Place to Nitya, a Junior at Del Norte High School for her “Network Intrusion Detection Using Artificial Intelligence” Computer Science exhibit. Ms. Nitya was also honored by the Armed Forces Communications and Electronics Association.
• Senior Division Fourth Place to Jessica, a Sophomore at Scripps Ranch High School for her “In-situ Pore Water and Sediment Sampler” Electrical & Mechanical Engineering exhibit. Ms. Jessica was also honored by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the Marine Technology Society, and the Society of American Military Engineers - San Diego Post.
• Junior Division First Place to Kayley, a 6th grader at The Bishop's School, for her “Cooling Straws” Materials & Bioengineering Engineering exhibit. Ms. Kayley was Broadcom Nominated. Also, she was honored by the American Society of Materials International, the Association for Women in Science, and the General Atomics Sciences Education Foundation.
• Junior Division Second Place to Alyssa, an 8th grader at Thurgood Marshall Middle School for her “Keeping Office Buildings Cool” Environmental Sciences & Management exhibit. Ms. Alyssa was Broadcom Nominated.

​Judging Science Fair projects is a lot of fun but it’s also tough and it means taking time away from work, so “Thank you again judges.”

Laura Meldrum

WHAT: 5 FREE, specialized, virtual, online STEM Summer Camps


WHO: For GIRLS in middle school & high school


WHERE: They can be located anywhere in the USA, our camps are online!


NEEDS: Device & WiFi


COST: FREE!!!


OUR TEACHERS: Industry experts from automotive, air, rail, space, racing and other transportation-related industries


WHY: We are training our future female leaders to be Renaissance Women, giving them the essential life skills needed for them to excel in any situation






CAMP 1 – Land, Sea & Air Transportation Camp
https://athenaracing.org/land-sea-air-camp/
Date: June 21 - 25
Time: 9am to Noon PST
Do you want to be one who makes the world move? We’re going to take a look into all sectors of the transportation industry – on land, sea and air. It doesn’t matter what your strengths are, if you have a love for moving people and things, there is a job for you. Each day will be a different topic as we dive deep into the world of transportation and mobility – Racing, Wheels, Marine, Air and Space.


CAMP 2 – How-To Camp
https://athenaracing.org/how-to-camp/
Date: June 28 - July 1
Time: 9 - 11 am PST
There is a lot going on in the shop and feeling comfortable enough to step up and help can take some time. We’re going to demystify some of those processes so that you can join in with the boys with unwavering confidence. From hand tools to power tools and all the nuts and bolts in between, you’ll discover tidbits of information that will help you in the future as you grow in your engineering, design and robotics careers.


CAMP 3 – FABcamp – Our Premiere Flagship 2nd Annual Virtual Camp
https://athenaracing.org/fabcamp-2021/
Date: Wednesdays in July: 7, 14, 21, 28
Time: 9 am to 1 pm PST
This is the STEM-education automotive maker camp for girls who are curious about cars, how they work, and those who make them. Our team will be showcasing how to plan, build, and wrench as we move our auto shop online with project-based learning. 


Each week we will unveil all of the stages of building from a pile of parts and scrap metal as we take students from the beginning planning stages to cutting, welding, and painting to the final reveal. Each week we will interview female STEM role models, explore career possibilities, discover mechanical marvels, have fun contests and give away great prizes! 


By the end, we will have completed a F150 transmission swap and a fabricated (from scratch) a transportation challenge. Throughout the camp, you’ll learn about tools, engineering, and fabrication, but you’ll be having so much fun you won’t realize how much you are learning.


CAMP 4 – Life is a Mock Interview: Public Speaking Camp
https://athenaracing.org/public-speaking-camp/
Date: Thursdays in July: 8, 15, 22, 29
Time: 9 - 11 am PST
Everything in life is a mock interview. We want you to be prepared. Being able to command a crowd – and now, the added pressure and distance of online conferencing – can be a daunting task! But it doesn’t have to be. Learn powerful speaking tools that will boost your confidence, put you at ease, and engage your audience. Whether your audience is a large crowd or one person, knowing how to correctly add all aspects of speaking – vocal variety, enunciation, emotion, facial expressions, hand gestures, body language – will boost your magnetism.




CAMP 5– Career Development Camp
https://athenaracing.org/career-dev-camp/
Date: August 2 - 6
Time: 9am to Noon PST
Are you interested in working at the internship of your dreams? Building out your high school resume so that you can compete for the right college and scholarship? Career development doesn’t come naturally – you have to train, refine your skills, hone your strengths, and persevere through the ups and downs. Our team of experts will help you focus on your “future me” and give you the steps to get to the dream career path that you are seeking. You may be young, yet with your defined purpose you will outshine your competition regardless of age.


SUMMERTIME SNAP SATURDAYS
https://athenaracing.org/snap-circuit-saturdays/
Date: June 5, July 3, August 7
Time: 4 - 5 pm PST
Do you plan to become a STEM-career, transportation-designing, engineering-thinking, robot-creating, business-building leader? Becoming well-versed in electronics will help you secure the position and salary of your dreams.
“In my conversations with employers, the need for Electrical Engineers is mentioned in every conversation. I suggest to all Athenians that they purse an EE degree as a major or minor concentration. Green energy is our future and having knowledge of how to engineer it will make you a valuable asset across many industry sectors.” – Ms. Loxley
We use the Snap Circuit kit that you can purchase from Amazon Smiles (choose Athena Racing as your charity of choice). This hands-on learning will electrify the fun as we build working models of snap circuits to create a Light Tunnel, Two Mirror circuit, Break the Beam and much, much more. We’ll build in 3-D using parts that allow us to build our circuits horizontally, vertically and upside down.


Registration is now open! There are 100 seats available for each event (except public speaking) – first come, first serve! 


Go to the event page to register.

The SWENext Local Innovator Award: May and Jenna
The SWENext Local Innovator Award recognizes the outstanding young women shaping the future of SWE by developing an engineering identity in themselves and others in their local STEM community. Award recipients exemplify intellectual curiosity, enthusiasm, and leadership in their local STEM community. (https://welocal.swe.org/award-recipient/may/ and https://welocal.swe.org/award-recipient/jenna/) 


The SWENext STEM in Action Award: Avery, Madalyn, and Isabel
The SWENext STEM in Action Award recognizes girls in grades 6-12 who are actively interested in STEM and doing something in their community about it (e.g. raising awareness, mentoring students, participating in SWENext, etc.) SWENext Clubs Best Practices: Poway High School SWENext Club. (https://welocal.swe.org/award-recipient/avery/, https://welocal.swe.org/award-recipient/madalyn/ and  https://welocal.swe.org/award-recipient/isabel/).  


SWE Engaged Advocate Award: Dr. Tracy Nguyen, SWE Counselor
The Engaged Advocate Award honors individuals within the following categories contributed to the advancement or acceptance of women in engineering: K-12 Educator; Collegiate Educator/SWE Faculty Advisor/SWE Counselor; Entrepreneur; or STEM Professional. (https://welocal.swe.org/award-recipient/tracy-nguyen-o-d/)  


SWE Outstanding Outreach Event Award: Mary Isaac, SWE Fellow & Tracy Nguyen, SWE Counselor
The Outstanding Outreach Event Award recognizes a group or groups who plan and carry out a high-quality outreach event to inspire future engineers. Virtual STEMinists - Drs. Mary Isaac & Tracy Nguyen accepted the Outstanding Outreach Award for their support on behalf of PHS SWENext's Virtual STEM Careers Series impacting over 700 attendees worldwide. (https://welocal.swe.org/award-recipient/swe-virtual-steminists/)  

The New Year New You Yoga event had about 10 attendees.  We worked through some basic vinyasa yoga poses.  We learned some chair-yoga stress relieving techniques to do at work, and we ended the session with guided meditation.  Some feedback provided "A safe space to practice yoga with the SWE-SD community,"  and "It was really a great way to bring people together virtually and spend my Saturday morning!" 

If you have ideas for events or are interested in helping plan events like these, please email Sam, the Membership Engagement committee chair at me@swesandiego.com

(Feb 2020 - Feb 2021)

SWENext is a way for K-12 students to belong in the Society of Women Engineers (SWE). Each year SWENext puts on competitions for both individual SWENext members and for SWENext Clubs. Please help us recognize the San Diego SWENexters winning SWE awards this year: 

• SWENext Global Innovator Award (Grade 12) recognizes outstanding young women shaping the future of SWE by developing an engineering identity within themselves and their local STEM community. Make sure to check all six of the 2020 SWENext Global Innovator Award Winners in this video (4 min). Please help us recognize the two San Diego global winners:
  • Shayne Conner (President, Carlsbad High School SWENext Club), 
  • Sara Wilson (President, Poway High School SWENext Club) 

 

• SWENext Clubs Best Practices Award recognizes clubs that do exceptional work in developing a community for students to explore engineering and STEM fields. This year’s winner is a San Diego Club: Poway High School SWENext Club 

 

• SWENext Community Award (Grade 9 - 11) recognizes the impact SWENexters have in their communities to solve real-world problems. This year’s poster competition, sponsored by Northrup Grumman, had two of the 25 winners in San Diego: 
  • Abigail Nguyen & Madalyn Nguyen, Poway High School SWENext Club
  • Ashika Palacharla, WE STEM SWENext Club and Del Norte High School 

SWENext also recognized four SWENext Local Innovators and 21 SWENext STEM in Action awards during the February 1, 2020 San Diego WE Local Conference. Read all about these amazing students, many from the San Diego area, in the SWENext Newsletter. If you would like to get more involved in SWENext locally, to be a speaker, mentor or even a club counselor, please send a note to Debra at SWENextSanDiego@gmail.com. 

NOVEMBER COMMITTEE MEETING SUMMARY 

We just held our November Membership Engagement (ME) Committee Meeting.  See meeting notes attached.  In summary we discussed the following:

• FY21 committee budget
• Status on the November 10th Family Feud Virtual Game Night
• December Event Selection / Planning*

*For December we chose a SWE Holiday Cookie Swap + Hike.  We plan to gather recipes ahead of time and prepare a SWE Cookie Swap recipe book (PDF).  Interested participants can meet on December 6th for a cookie swap!  And if desired, can stay and join us for a SWE Hike! We're very excited about this event.  Please get the word out and put it on your calendars!  Families welcome!

Volunteers Needed - if you would like to help with the cookie swap + hike event, please reply to this email. 


UPCOMING EVENTS

10 November - Family Feud Virtual Game Night.  Invitations will be going out shortly!  Thanks to Cassidy, Rachelle, Liz, and Nina for their help planning!  Please sign up on eventbrite to reserve your slot!
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/family-feud-game-night-tickets-127653000561


03 December - Membership Engagement Committee Meeting

05 December - SWE Cookie Swap + Hike
Details coming soon :)

The Outreach Committee is excited to provide the community with some amazing events for FY21!! We will lead events catered to each age group K-12 such as STEM Challenges and mentorship programs as well as collaborate with the many organizations and companies in San Diego to empower girls and young women to explore their interests in the STEM fields. If you are interested in joining our committee, please email outreach.swesandiego@gmail.com. We look forward to working with you!

This Fall, our team is planning a Resume Review and Mock Interview session to help students practice and prepare for the career fair at WE20. In addition, we also want to provide young students with virtual lab tours and Day in the Life of an Engineer videos to enrich their online learning experience. Lastly, we plan to start a Mentorship program with high school and collegiate students to guide them into their university and professional careers. If you are interested in contributing to any of these activities, please fill out this form!

Also, today is the International Day of the Girl, which commemorates 25 years since the Fourth World Conference on Women took place in Beijing, China where 30,000 women and men from 200 countries committed to recognizing of women's rights as human rights. In celebration of the International Day of the Girl, we want to highlight some great events this month! 

• Interdisciplinary Women's Council at Northeastern University (Oct 11) hosts a sit down with female leaders and activists from around the country to hear their stories of success and triumph.
• Sloth School Virtual Program (Oct 14) hosted by the Girl Scouts of Alaska. Girls (grade 4-12) will learn sloth facts, conservation information about sloths, and how girls can help conservation efforts.  
• Virtual Mentorship Workshop (Oct 15) hosted by Role Model Initiative. STEM professionals will learn how we relate to the audience we're mentoring and science communication at this free workshop.
• Sedimentology (Oct 20-22) hosted by Science Safari in Cary, NC. Youth (PreK-5th grade) will learn about Quicksand, fossil layers, and other earth mysteries. 
• Free Virtual Events with EarthEcho - Fall 2020. EarthEcho (founded by siblings Philippe and Alexandra Cousteau in honor of their father Philippe Cousteau Sr., son of the legendary explorer Jacques Yves Cousteau) is working with scientists and environmental experts to inspire youth (middle to high school) to act now for a sustainable future. 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns and thank you so much!

Thanks,
Staci

Thank you so much for attending and participating in our meeting this past Monday! It was great to discuss more of your ideas and activities for our community! If you weren't able to attend, please review our meeting minutes here.

Next steps and actions:
1) Please fill out this form, so we can plan for future committee meetings and events as well as any events you are interested in leading this fall!
2) If you have any other ideas of outreach opportunities for our community, please add them to this running list.

In addition to the actions listed above, check out this incredible workshop hosted by The Role Model Initiative on Thursday, October 15th, focusing on science communication and how we relate to the audience we're mentoring. This workshop is free and open to any STEM professional who is currently a role model, or has interest in becoming a role model. Please register at this link.

​Please let us know if you have any questions/concerns. Otherwise, have a great weekend!

Sincerely,
Staci and Cassidy

Our newsletter is published monthly and features the latest news relating to women in engineering, with a special emphasis with the San Diego area.