The Career Guidance chair arranges for LA members to speak at area schools and educational events about engineering. The Section awards Certificates of Merit, provides Girl Scout badge-earning programs, judges science fairs, and sponsors an essay contest  for elementary students. To see how you can become involved, contact our chair.


College
SWE-LA will pay for the Student Membership Upgrade if you plan to stay in the LA Area after graduation!  SWE members who meet the criteria should contact the College Relations Chair for an application.
Criteria for Student Membership Upgrade

1. Must be an active member of the Student Section who has held an Officer position or has been an active Volunteer/Participant in at least 3 student chapter meetings or events.
2. Plan to stay in the LA area

Section Counselor or Faculty AdvisorEvery Student Section must have a SWE Counselor. If you or one your colleagues would be willing to fill one of these positions, please contact the College Relations Chair.

• Every Student Section must have a SWE Counselor.The Student Section elects their SWE Counselor each year.In addition to being a SWE member in good standing, the Counselor shall be considered a nonvoting member of the Student Section.
• The Counselor is responsible to the Board of Directors, through the Region Student Coordinator and Student Activities Committee Chair, for the Student Section's compliance with the Society Bylaws and its policies and procedures.

College Scholarships

• Each year the Los Angeles Section of the Society of Women Engineers administers several scholarships ($500 minimum) which are funded by donations from industry and individuals to encourage women to study engineering and alleviate the financial burden. It is open to both undergraduate and graduate students. Our applicants' majors run the gamut from civil and chemical to electrical and industrial engineering. SWE-LA takes pride in our selection process. We assess each student on her scholastic aptitude, extracurricular activities, SWE involvement, and motivation. Not only do we review the applications, but a professional member conducts a one-to-one interview with each student. Scholarship application and Instruction Past Scholarship Recipients
• For more SWE scholarships, check out SWE National's website at www.swe.org

NASA Space Camp

• Also honored at the Annual Scholarship Banquet are the SWE-LA winners of the annual Science Fair/NASA Campership program.  These lucky young women attended NASA Space Academy.  Special Thanks to Dr. Neda Fabris, our NASA Campership Program Chair, for writing letters of recommendation for our winners!

• Maria Corona  &  Marissa Williams
• Culver City Middle School
• Emily Miramontes
• Dean L. Shively Middle School

• The students win a trip to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama including air fare and the Space Academy (8th) or Advanced Space Academy (9-11th).
• Space Academy costs $799 and Advanced Space Academy costs $899, which includes room and board.  It's limited to minority female students in 8th-11th grade.

Essay Contest

This contest is open to students in 6th to 7th grade, and provides the opportunity for students to perform research on women who have made contributions in science and engineering. All participants and sponsoring teachers are recognized, and the winning students are presented with their awards by a SWE member at school assemblies.All of this years winners were from Jefferson Middle School in Torrance. Third place winners received a book, second place winners a book and four IMAX tickets, and first place winners a book, 4 IMAX tickets, and a Space Pen (the winners thought this was very cool!).

6th Grade 3rd Place Megan Beiley 2nd Place Megan Craig 1st Place Taylor Farish

7th Grade 2nd Place Lisa Lambert 1st Place Kylie Huerta

8th Grade 3rd Place - Jessica Le 2nd Place - Arohi Sharma 1st Place - Steven Quan

Girl Scout Badge Day

Over 100 high school girl scouts attended the annual Girl Scout Badge Day on Saturday April 3, 2004. SWE-LA and SWE-USC hosted the event at the USC campus. The theme was “Built for Success” and the six workshops provided an introduction to the fun things engineers get to do. They got a glimpse of Bioengineering by extracting DNA from strawberries. In another workshop that focused on Electrical Engineering, they found out how a led, diode and potentiometer worked using circuit boards. Another workshop lead by Industrial Engineers, showed the value of Lean Engineering with a paper airplane assembly line. Engineers from the Space Generation Foundation led a talk about the Mars Exploration Rovers. The girl scouts got a tour of the Wind Tunnel and laboratory from an Aerospace Engineering student and alumnae. Also the students got to open up the inside of a computer and learn that it’s not as hard to build one. A quote from Maureen Shultz of troop 787: “Thanks so much to you and all the members of SWE - for organizing such a wonderful event! … my girls GUSHED about it at our meeting on Sunday! My own daughter (who "hates" math and science in school) went on and on about everything she learned. I think you've "turned on the lights" for many of my girls that careers in the engineering / science area are clearly something to consider!

Links

For Educators/Counselors

• The NASA SciFiles website
• Information from NASA - Johnson Control Center on Space Programs
• Link to our contest forms... Career Guidance Forms
• National Links
• More great information and links! Click Here!
• American Institute of Chemical Engineers - Chicago Section - Student Outreach Speakers Kit
• Lists some programs and competitions that can get girls interested engineering.
• Future City Competition for 7th and 8th graders. - The National Engineers Week Future City Competition provides a fun and exciting educational program for seventh- and eighth-grade students that combine a stimulating engineering challenge with a "hands-on" application to present their vision of a city of the future. Engineering skills, such as teamwork, communication and problem solving are used in conjunction with an engineer-mentor and teacher's guidance. Girls are equally represented both as participants and top winners in this competition.
• Information on the Hoffman Program. The purpose of the one day program is to link educators and counselors with great information on engineering, how to teach it, how to show it and where to go for more information!

For Everyone...

• The Ada Project - Internet Resources for Women in Computing
• The ADA Project (TAP)
• Association for Women in Mathematics
• Girl Geeks - The Source for Women in Computing
• Grace Hopper Celebration of Women in Computing Videos
• Institute for Women and Technology (IWT)
• MentorNet - The national electronic industrial mentoring net for women in engineering and science.
• Minorities and Women in Engineering (ASME)
• Nasa Education Program 
• Celebration of Women in Engineering - NAE Project to bring national attention to the opportunities, creativity, and potential that engineering represents to women and to all people of all ages.
• Systers - An informal organization for technical women in computing that began in 1987.
• Women in Engineering (IEEE)
• Women and Minorities in Science and Engineering (MIT)
• Women of NASA
• Think Quest 1998 - Women in Science - Here you can get an overview of several women of past and present who are involved in science.
• Virtual Development Center (IWT) An industry supported partnership of universities and communities aimed at bringing women's genius to the technology of the future.
• Women's Initiative Committee (AICHe)

Check back for more great links! We update this as we find them! Do you have a good one? Send it to the Career Guidance Chair.