Embrace the Power of Mentoring

SWE Pacific Northwest professional section will be partnering with the SWE student sections at the University of Washington, Seattle University, and Everett CC in a structured mentoring program, and we want you to be a part of the program.  It is a short time commitment, but a very valuable experience for the students.  If you are interested in being a mentor, please see below for details of the program!

Who:  
Experienced engineers of any discipline.  Each interested mentor will complete the short bio/experience questionnaire found here: http://goo.gl/forms/A4oRiim1Gx

Please submit questionnaire by December 4th. We will need enough mentors as there are students signed up to the program and it will be first come first serve for mentors.  Please help spread the word!

What:
A structured, on-going mentorship with an experienced engineer so engineering students can gain access to professionals’ experiences.  We would love to have SWE members as mentors, but it is not a criteria.

When:
The program will meet with everyone 4 times over the course of the academic year.  The first meeting will include a speaker to discuss mentoring.  It will also be a chance to network and meet your potential mentor/mentee (similar to speed mentoring).

We will pair mentor and mentees based on preference questionnaires submitted after the first meeting. The mentor and mentee will then schedule meetings on their own (over the phone, over a cup of coffee, etc.) to engage in a mentoring relationship.

The kick-off/pairing meeting will be Monday, December 7th at 6:00PM (location details to follow). You must attend in order to participate in the program.

Future Dates for Group Mentoring Meetings:
March 1st
May 18th
Note: All meetings include dinner. Please save the dates now.

Questions?
Contact kay.pre@gmail.com and tamairaross@yahoo.com

Girl Scouts of Western Washington STEM Fair

The Girl Scouts of Western Washington is hosting a STEM Fair. They are having a bridge building contest (Tiny Trusses) and on the testing day will be hosting a STEM fair during bridge testing.

When: Saturday February 27th 10:00-12:00
Where: Burlington-Edison High School

They are inviting all Girl Scouts in the area to come out to our STEM fair and bring their families and friends . Girls at the fair will range in age from Kindergarten to 12th grade. Contestants are 4th—12th grade. Girl Scouts of Western Washington would like to have a wide variety of STEM based tables, activities and displays to interest and educate girls on STEM opportunities, careers and companies.

If you, your group or your company are interested in hosting a table/activity, please let them know. Email the information listed below to Erica.fifer@gmail.com

• Business/Group Name
• Contact Person Name
• Contact Number
• Email
• We will bring a: Display/Game/Activity
• Space needed (approximate area you’d like)
• Brief description of activity/game/display

SWE Region J Awards Program FY16

General Information:
The Region J Awards Program consists of two section awards, two individual awards, one employee
resource group award, and three membership awards. The awards will be presented at the ABJ Region Conference in Seattle, WA on February 20, 2015.

All submissions are to be submitted electronically to regionj.swe.awards@gmail.com. Please note that if your section or MAL group applies for more than one award, then a separate application must be submitted for each award. The submission deadline is December 23, 2015.

Incomplete packages, packages that do not follow the specified format, or those that exceed the word count requirements will be removed from consideration. In the event of a tie for any region award, honors and/or cash prizes will be split between the submissions included in the tie.

Specific questions concerning the Region J Award Program can be directed to the Region J Awards
Chair at regionj.swe.awards@gmail.com.

Award Summary

• Professional Development Program Award
• Collegiate and Professional/MAL sections invited to apply
• Event must have been executed during FY15 or FY16 to be eligible
• One $50 cash award presented to collegiate AND professional section
• Outreach Program Award
• Collegiate and Professional/MAL sections invited to apply
• Event must have been executed during FY15 or FY16 to be eligible
• One $50 cash award presented to collegiate AND professional section
• Emerging Leader Award
• Collegiate and Professional/MAL members invited to apply
• One award presented to a collegiate AND professional member
• Distinguished Outreach Service
• Professional/MAL members invited to apply
• One award presented
• Employee Resource Group Award
• Professional/MAL sections invited to apply
• Event must have been executed during FY15 or FY16 to be eligible
• Membership Awards (No application needed)
• Awarded to sections with best growth and retention

The awards packet can be found here: http://www.swe-pnw.org/awards--recognition.html

Announcing the FY16 Region J Mentorship Program!

The SWE Region J Mentoring Program is officially underway!

We invite SWE professional members to join as a mentor and/or as a mentee.  Resource packets and virtual sessions on various SWE related topics will be provided as part of the program to make this a successful and rewarding experience for mentor and mentee.

Call for Mentors:

• You might be a mentor if you:
• Are you a current SWE member
• Have a passion to inspire and develop others in SWE 
• Have a desire to grow your own leadership, coaching, and mentoring skills
• We are looking for SWE members in Region J of ALL experience levels to mentor more junior members in the region. 
• Whether you’re only a couple years in or have been a member of SWE for as long as you remember, there are other SWE members out there who can benefit from your experience and guidance! 
• Mentors can share experiences in professional development and personal choices as well as grow SWE connections.  
• Sign up to be a SWE Region J Mentor here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/766SYD5

Call for Mentees:

• You might be a mentee if you:
• Have been thinking about developing you SWE path
• Are looking for someone who can share experiences in professional development and personal choices  
• As part of this program you’ll be paired with a more senior SWE member who can help you build your career and also help you navigate the many benefits of SWE, including award applications, opportunities to be involved, and also networking.
• Sign up to be a SWE Region J Mentee here: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/7ZR3Y6Q

The FY16 Region J Mentoring Program will be taking sign-up through 11/30/15. For any questions please contact the Mentorship Chair, Pratima Rao (pratima.gn.rao@gmail.com).

Sedro Woolley Area Girl Scout Bridge Building Contest - Mentors Needed

Erica Fifer is a civil engineer and Girl Scout leader in Western Washington. She is planning a bridge building contest for 4th grade girls in the Sedro Woolley area, which is about 1 hour north of Seattle.

One thing they are looking for are engineers (women or men, but women would be great) to help with the events and be mentors. Below are some of the key dates, activities, and types of volunteering role.

Key Dates & Activities:

• January 16th - Initial meeting
• This is when they will go over the majority of the information and have girls start discussing and drawing their designs.  
• This would be a 2.5-3 hour time commitment.
• January 30th - Finalize drawings and get drawings approved
• The teams would come with their drawings done.  
• Mentors will review them, make suggestions and approve the final drawing.  
• Girls will be given their bridge building kits and start on building if they have time.  
• This would be about 2 hours.
• February 13th - Optional day
• Girls to come get help with bridge building and get questions answered.
• February 27th - Testing and STEM festival day.
• They will be testing each bridge to find the break load and plan to have different groups and individuals come in and have STEM booths.

So here's the types of volunteers they are looking for:

• Bridge Building / Examples
• She is looking for adults to make bridges that they can have completed before January 16th.
• These would be entered into the 'adult' or 'professional' division and to give girls some ideas to start with. 
• A kit would be provided and you'd have until January 16th to build a bridge. 
• Mentors
• She needs folks to be mentors.  
• The idea is that each group of 2-3 girls will have a mentor assigned to them, each mentor will have 3-4 groups (depending on how many groups and mentors they get).
• They want to be sure the girls are doing the drawing and designs, but they want a mentor to help out by answering questions, making suggestions and making sure the drawings and design seem reasonable.
• This would be a commitment to be at the events on January 16th and 30th for up to 3 hours each day.
• STEM Festival February 27th
• They are also looking for companies or groups to host booths at the STEM festival.
• They are going to invite all Girl Scouts in the area and families and friends.  
• This will likely be 4 ours or more and is still in the planning stages

If you could contact Erica Fifer by November or December 2015, that would be great.

FY16 Region J Positions Still Available

Want to make a bigger impact in SWE? Then consider helping out at the regional level! The following positions are still open. Anyone interested contact Wendy Jenkins or your SWE PNW Section Reps (swe.pnw.section.reps@gmail.com) if interested.

Region J Social Media Chair: 

• The social media chair is responsible for maintaining the region’s social media accounts, posting and sharing articles and needed.  
• This is a great opportunity for someone wanting to get involved but without a huge time commitment.  
• All that’s needed is some social media savviness.

Region J Conference Coordinator: 

• The conference coordinator serves as the Region J representative/liaison into regional conferences, particularly for years when we’re doing a joint conference with Regions A and B. 
• Great opportunity to be in the loop on region  conference planning.

Region J Assessment Chair: 

• The assessment chair is a new role for this year. 
• This role requires you to work with the Region J treasurer to do financial assessments and audit the region’s financials. 
• This is a good opportunity to learn more about SWE’s finances.

Region J Webmaster: 

• The webmaster is responsible for maintaining the Region J website, making updates to the page as requested. 
• This is a great opportunity for someone wanting to get involved but needing flexibility with their availability to volunteer. 
• You don’t need extensive web design skills for this one – the interface for updates is pretty user friendly!

Region J Newsletter Editor: 

• The newsletter editor is responsible for collecting articles and putting together the Region J newsletter, which goes out roughly once a quarter. 
• This is another good opportunity to get involved with a lot of flexibility, and a chance to stay up to date on what is going on in the region. 
• You also have a chance to get a little creative!

Region J Mentoring Co-Chair: 

• The role of the mentoring chair(s) is to run the region J mentoring program. 
• Information on how the FY15 program was run will be provided form past chairs, but there is a lot of flexibility in this role and opportunities for new ideas and improvements. 
• Can be either just professional mentoring, or both professional and collegiates, potentially partnering with collegiate leaders in the region.

ABJ2016: Explore, Empower, Engage is coming - and volunteers are needed!

Mark your calendars for February 18-21, 2016 – it’s going to be a great joint region A, B, and J conference hosted by Region J and the PNW section!

The website (http://abjconference.swe.org/) is live and already has some great information up on the conference activities and planned events for the conference weekend. Here are some quick highlights for what's up on the website:

• Call for Speakers is open until September 30th: http://abjconference.swe.org/call-for-abstracts.html
• Call for Keynote Nominations is open until September 30th: http://abjconference.swe.org/call-for-keynote-nominations.html
• Sponsorship packet is now posted: http://abjconference.swe.org/sponsorship--support.html
• Registration will be opening in late September!

In addition to the great things being planned, the planning committee is still looking for volunteers to help behind the scenes.

Here's the current list of volunteer needs:

• Sponsorship Committee:
• Multiple people are needed to contact potential sponsors for sponsorship.
• One person is needed to serve as liason to the finance committee.
• Program & Speakers Committee:
• Multiple people are needed to review session speaker abstracts in October and November.  
• Multiple people are needed to review keynote nominations in October and November.  
• The committee meets every Wednesday at 7pm PT.
• Marketing Committee: 
• Advertising:
• One person is needed to serve as chair and spearhead conference advertising. They will be responsible for getting the word out that the conference is happening (on radio, TV, news, newspapers, local journals, letting tech companies know, etc.).
• Multiple people are needed to help the chair.
• Communications: 
• One person is needed to attend and take minutes for the weekly Conference Planning Meeting on Mondays at 6:30 
• One person is needed to handle social media updates about the conference.
• One person needed to create the conference program book.
• Website:
• One person is needed to help with website updates and to serve as a backup to the website chair.
• University Integration Committee: 
• Multiple people are needed to help plan the Career Fair and Hiring Event, including reaching out to sponsors (with the Sponsorship Committee), planning correspondence and marketing for the event (with the Marketing Committee), and supporting during the Career Fair (organizing, verifying tables & companies are oriented, etc.).  
• Multiple people are needed to help review technical poster competition abstracts from December to February.
• Outreach Event:
• Multiple volunteers are needed to help plan and coordinate the Outreach event on Sunday afternoon of the conference.
• One person is needed to manage the local STEM showcase during the pre-event time.  They will be responsible for reaching out to local STEM organizations (there’s a list) and tending to them day of.

As planning goes forward, please check out http://abjconference.swe.org/be-a-volunteer.html or contact regionabjconference@gmail.com with your questions on volunteering.

We hope to see you there in February 2016!