NP Women in Engineering Club hosts annual Girls Night
On Thursday night, February 28th, students from all three North Penn middle schools attended a Girls Engineering night at North Penn High School. The event was hosted by the Technology and Engineering Department in association with the Women in Engineering club here at North Penn. However, the event was run by the enthusiastic and talented students from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) at Drexel University.
The attendees were split into groups and run through four different hands-on activities involving the STEM subjects. From chromatography, electronics, to biomedical engineering, and tower construction, students had a fast-paced evening where they gained exposure and application for these topics.
Senior, Kyra Pond, said she enjoyed talking with the students and sharing her passion about engineering. She hopes, “…that they aren’t afraid to pursue engineering here at the high school. There are a lot of guys, but that’s nothing to worry about.”
Engineering is still a male dominant field, but that doesn’t provide the world with an unbiased perspective. According to ASME, females only represent 15% of the engineering workforce. However, that number has tripled from 1980. Traditionally, students are influenced most about careers by parents (BLS). Ask anyone around you, and that will most likely stand. Students with parents as an engineer are more likely to head into those careers. Add the early, consistent, and positive exposure to these careers from student groups like SWE and amazing programs in North Penn’s Technology and Engineering Department, and we may someday see significant change in the male to female ratio in STEM careers.
This is the third Girls Engineering night put on by SWE here at North Penn.
https://www.bls.gov/careeroutlook/2015/article/career-planning-for-high-schoolers.htm
