The benefits of SWE membership come in many forms—from the empowerment of finding the right mentor to the satisfaction of seeing the look on the face of a 12-year-old girl successfully completing a science project and “getting it” for the first time.
There are many reasons to become a member of SWE. Hear from several SWE-OC members about why they joined.
"In college a friend asked me to go with her to a SWE meeting my freshmen year and everyone I met was nice. I liked the outreach activities the section was working on and decided to join. Eleven years later I stay involved in SWE because several of my closest friends are also members and I like the activities the Orange County Section provides to members. There is a huge amount of leadership and networking opportunities at local, regional and national levels and you can be as involved as you want at any level of the organization."
Jeannette Lindemann, SWE-OC Section Representative
"I have been a SWE member for over 20 years and have been involved on the local and national levels. I credit SWE for helping me obtain a management position. Although I learned engineering skills from college, SWE helped me develop management, organizational, and leadership skills. I remain a member because of the continued professional development opportunities, as well as the friendships."
Charlotte Wagner, P.E., SWE-OC Networking Lunch Committee Chair
"I joined in college to meet other women engineers and to network. My involvement with SWE got me my first engineering job. I stayed involved because of my love for the Outreach activities. The Girl Scout Workshop is one of my favorite events. It's an amazing experience to see young girls getting excited about science and engineering and realize this is something they can do.
Shannon Pollock, SWE-OC Recording Secretary