Hi guys!! 🙂
Today’s topic is a little more serious than some of the other blogs I have written, but it does not mean this is not as important. If anything, it is even more important!
I grew up doing robotics, from FLL through FIRST Robotics in elementary school, to VEX and FTC in middle school, and FRC in high school. I know firsthand, as a woman in STEM, that this field is male-dominated. However, I did not let it stop me from pursuing my interests, and in fact, I was the first female president of my high school VEX team, leading 90 students across seven different teams.
Coming into USC, I had certain expectations about learning amongst that same divide. However, after even a week at USC, my expectations were surpassed, and I learned very quickly that a lack of gender based discrimination is a privilege I have in this school.
Not only did I not feel a disparity in my classes, but outside of that, I found that it was very easy to become involved with the plethora of extracurricular opportunities for women in engineering. I joined USC’s SWE (Society of Women Engineers) chapter, and I became very involved with the other women and non binary individuals within Viterbi. I attended weekly meetings ranging with themes anywhere from self-care nights to professional company visits and talks that end in recruitment from these events.
In the second semester of my freshman year, I applied to become a SWE Ambassador, through which I worked with the president of SWE USC and a cohort of other women engineers to learn more about resume building, understand networking, and other build professional development skills.
During my sophomore year at USC, through a close friend on campus who is on the Executive Board, I learned more about WIE (Women in Engineering) at USC. This was another program that hosted similar networking and community based events, and I very much enjoyed attending these meetings throughout the year. I loved that I could commit as much as I wanted to, or as little as I needed to due to my other workloads. The fact that these clubs were composed of other women in engineering really made them that much more fun and amazing. Additionally, all of the club members were very understanding and supportive of each other. This is a community that I, now as a junior, still appreciate and look forward to.
I can confidently say that USC has fulfilled and on top of that, introduced new expectations of equality and diversity in engineering for me. As a woman of color pursuing engineering, I feel included, and I cannot be more proud and grateful for that.
