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To volunteer means to openly offer your time and provide free labor for community service. Drew requires 100 hours minimum of community service during our high school career (lowered to 40 as of covid) because it teaches us to give back to the community. Volunteering gives us the chance to make our neighborhoods a better place, follow our passions, make friendships, learn important life lessons, and develop a bond with our community.
Women in STEAM
Women in STEAM
MY GOAL: Although I grew up in a STEAM school, there have been few STEAM female role models in my life, specifically in engineering. When I shadowed PES Engineers, there were only four females in the entire office. At my internship at GTRI (Georgia Institute of Technology), the only females in the office were the secretary and janitor. At my current internship at RS&H, there are more females than I have seen in past offices but the ratio is still far from even. It has been disappointing to see that the engineering industry is so male-dominated, so the problem I want to solve is the lack of women in STEAM, and I am doing this by introducing young girls to engineering.
STEAM DAY
STEAM DAY
For Drew's STEAM Day, I partnered with my friend Ezra Hsu to create a project for Drew's elementary students. Using Onshape, I designed two different boxes. We used the glowforge to cut our designs and assembled a demonstration box. We told each class to get into groups of three to four and vote on which landscape they would like to assemble. After they seperated into groups, we gave them instructions on how to assemble their box and add LED lights. We also provided markers so the students could color their boxes.
STEAM Career Day
STEAM Career Day
For Steam Career Day, I partnered with Ezra Hsu on another project for middle and elementary schoolers. We created a slideshow explaining past engineering projects we have done and what we are doing at our current internship. We introduced several classes to civil/structural engineering and biomedical engineering. Ezra and I also created an engineering-related game for the students and gave them time to ask questions about our field.
STEAM Career Day Game
STEAM Career Day Game
The goal was to use washers and stack the rulers as far out as they could go.
STEAM Career Day Game
STEAM Career Day Game
These are two photos of a middle school class participating in our game.
KSU'S Girls in Engineering Day
KSU'S Girls in Engineering Day
Annually, I volunteer at Kennesaw State University’s Girls in Engineering Day. This event is important to me because I have the opportunity to teach elementary and middle school girls about engineering majors and give them a chance to find and grow their passions. It was also at KSU’s Girls in Engineering Day that I found my passion for structural engineering. After I went around the booths, one company offered me an opportunity to shadow a few female engineers. Helping other girls at this event is a way to give back to the organization that helped me find my passions. It is very important to me that I have joined a larger community to work toward changing the way things have always been in engineering and creating equal space for women.
NEXT STEPS: My next steps in engineering are continuing my internship with RS&H and going to Georgia Tech for civil engineering. I will be joining the WIE (Women in Engineering) at Georgia Tech, where I can both be mentored and continue to help mentor other females in the engineering field. I hope to continue exposing young girls to engineering careers and serve as a role model the way that I wanted as a young girl. It is important to have more women in STEAM fields to offer more diverse perspectives that create better outcomes.
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