SWE PHILADELPHIA TODAY

For the last 15 years the Philadelphia Section has provided support to the community and mission of SWE in in various ways such as: Girl Scouts, science fair judging and awards, Collegiate Counselors, Future City, FIRST Robotics, Making Strides, and technical tours and meetings. Three of the most successful programs have been the SWE-Widener Mini Camp, the Scholarship Program, and the Certificate of Merit Program. Read below to learn more about these programs.

SWE-WIDENER MINI CAMP

Engineering camps have become one means for introducing and attracting middle school and high school students to careers in engineering. Typical engineering camps are one to two weeks in duration in the summer and are conducted at a college or university with an engineering program. Such a camp is a mixture of discussions, lab experiences, and field trips all geared toward explaining what engineers do and providing an enjoyable experience that fosters positive attitudes and enthusiasm for engineering. This format can be effective for male students, who tend to populate the camps. However, girls may be intimidated / inhibited by the overwhelming majority of boys in the coed camps.

In 2000, Dr. Vicki Brown, Associate Professor and Chairman of Civil Engineering at Widener University and a member of the SWE-Philadelphia Section, led development of a one-day engineering camp for high school girls. Originally, it was intended that each one-day camp would be limited to 50 girls from the Philadelphia metropolitan area, and that at least two sessions of the camp would be offered each academic year. Given the level of involvement required for each camp, a more feasible plan was adopted, in which one camp session that accommodates a larger number of girls is offered each academic year. The initial camp, held on February 12, 2000, had 88 girls in attendance, and was funded by SWE through a grant from the Exxon, now Exxon/Mobile Education Foundation and by PECO Nuclear, now Exelon Nuclear Corporation.

Interest in the camp has grown over the years, drawing girls from eastern and central Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland, Delaware, Virginia, Washington D.C., and even as far away as Connecticut. There is typically a waiting list of girls for any given camp, prompting an expansion in camp capacity in 2007 to a maximum of 150 girls after Widener added a new wing to Kirkbride Hall which houses the School of Engineering. Girls who cannot be accommodated in a given year are placed on a waiting list and guaranteed an invitation to the next camp offering.

Corporate support has also increased over the years, with a variety of different companies providing financial assistance, although Exelon and Rohm and Haas have been particularly generous and faithful camp sponsors. Table 1 provides specifics for each of the 10 camps SWE and Widener have sponsored to date.

A feature first added in the 2001 camp was a morning program for the parents of girls attending the camp. This program, which was attended by approximately 50 parents in 2001, was very well received and was subsequently expanded to a more formal, full-day workshop for the 2002 camp. Approximately 65 parents participated in the 2002 program “Sending Your Daughter to Engineering School” workshop, which included sessions on engineering as a career choice (presented by women engineers in industry), preparing for admission to engineering school (presented by a college admissions counselor), what to expect academically in engineering school (presented by a female engineering faculty member), social and emotional adjustments (presented by a Dean of Freshmen Students), effective student work habits for college (presented by a Freshman Programs counselor),and financial aid issues (presented by a Financial Aid counselor). Table 1 also provides details on parent attendance at each of the Parents’ Workshops.

The girls’ camp and parent workshops, which are all held at Widener University, are staffed by volunteers from the SWE-Philadelphia and DelMar Penisula Sections, by students and alumni from the SWE-Widener Collegiate Section, and by support staff from the offices of Admissions, Financial Aid and Freshmen Programs at Widener University. The camp budget has increased from $3000-$3500 when camp attendance was capped at 100 girls to $4500-$5000 for the 150 girl camps. The camp is offered tuition-free to interested local high school girls, as are the workshops for their parents. Widener University provides meeting rooms, laboratory facilities, mailing lists, secretarial support, staff specialists, and a camp coordinator as in-kind contributions. Volunteer counselors select, develop, and document their laboratory projects, in consultation with the camp coordinator from Widener University, to ensure that all required equipment and facilities are available. The basic Girls’ Camp format is a series of concurrent hands-on laboratory sessions organized to accommodate groups of approximately 12 girls. Each girl participates in four different laboratory experiences, led by four different groups of leaders who are chosen to have varying professional backgrounds in order to expose the girls to the wide diversity of possible engineering careers. Laboratory experiences complement the leaders’ backgrounds to provide a context for discussion of engineering careers.

Table 1: Girls Camp Statistics

Camp Year	Applications	Girls Attendance	Parents Attendance	Sponsors
2000	150	88	Not offered	Exxon Grant, PECO Nuclear
2001	165	87	50	ASME, Exelon, SWE-Phila Member
2002	130	91	65	Exelon, Ford Motors, Rohm & Haas, SWE-Phila and Members
2003	125	64	55	Exelon, Henkels & McCoy, Rohm & Haas, Turner Construction
2004	121	83	58	Exelon, SWE-Phila Member
2005	160	90	63	DuPont, Exelon, Rohm & Haas
2006	219	105	89	DVIRC, Exelon, Rohm & Haas
2007	208	136	118	DVIRC, Rohm & Haas, SWE-Phila Members
2008	221	146	81	Exelon, Rohm & Haas
2009	246	137	97	Boeing, Exelon, KMJ Consulting, Rohm & Haas
Totals	1,745	1,027	676

SWE-Widener Mini Camp was recently featured in the Spring 2009 issue of SWE Magazine. Read the article here.

SCHOLARSHIP

On December 6, 1986, the Philadelphia Section set out to follow in the footsteps of the Baltimore-Washington Section and host an Art Show and Auction to raise money for a scholarship fund. The Art Show and Auction was held in the lobby of the Suburban Station office building with art supplied by Fine Arts Gallery, Inc. of Ardmore, PA. Tickets were $5 and 20% of the art sales went to the Section. Just over $1000 was raised from this event. This money was placed into a general scholarship fund and collected interest until 1996 though the first scholarship was given out in 1995 with funds donated by Ralph Klesius’ 1993 Rodney D Chipp Memorial Award monies.

In 1997, the Dorothy Hoffman Fund was established with a $500 memorial contribution from a section member. In 1998, the option to contribute to this fund was provided in the appeal letter that went out to members and corporations. The Section hopes to have the fund endowed in the near future to provide for $500 scholarship awards for 12th grade girls.

The Philadelphia section has evaluated as many as 49 applications in a year and awarded up to ten $1000 scholarships annually to female students pursuing undergraduate and graduate degrees in engineering and computer science. Funding for these scholarships are based solely on corporate and member donations.

Complete list of past scholarship winners.

Awards Programs

CERTIFICATE OF MERIT

The national SWE Certificate of Merit Program was established in 1970 to recognize the achievement of high school girls who have demonstrated three years of excellence in their mathematics and science courses and who are active in their school or community. This program is administered by the local SWE sections. The Philadelphia Section Certificate of Merit Program was begun by Carol Ann Maslanka during 1986-1987 when she was Chair of the Career Guidance Committee. She continued as program chair through 1987-1988 when she moved away from the area. Barbara C. Faust has chaired the program since then.

During the early days, the section worked from a list of schools contacted provided by the Engineers’ Club of Philadelphia / ETSCO (Engineering and Technical Societies Council) for various student, teacher, and guidance counselor programs. Over the years, SWE updated this list to identify and include other public and private schools located within the section boundaries. Although most schools prefer to have someone from the school present the awards, some do provide the opportunity for a SWE member to make the presentation, which provides an opportunity for the students to see and meet a real woman engineer. Thank you notes received from many of the students indicate how grateful they were to be recognized for their hard work and also that they intend to pursue engineering or some other technical course of study in college.

Table 2 summarizes number of schools participating in the Philadelphia Section program, the number of awards presented, and the SWE presenters. For a period of time, Philadelphia provided awards to students at some nearby schools that participated in the Delaware Valley Science Fairs and were located across the river in southern New Jersey. These schools were eventually included in the SWE-New Jersey Section program. Schools in Delaware and the Lehigh Valley areas were transferred when the new sections split from Philadelphia.

Table 2: Certificate of Merit Award Summary

Year	Number of Schools	Number of Certificates	Presenters
1986	unknown	unknown
1987	unknown	unknown
1988	unknown	unknown
1989	72	212
1990	72	200
1991	84	246
1992	75	221
1993	90	264
1994	74	221	Lisa Hutchings, Shirley Marquardt, Barbara Faust
1995	85	246	Lisa Hutchings, Deborah Savage, Barbara Faust
1996	110	321	Jennifer Matherly, Lisa Colosimo, Lisa Walton, Susan Best, Lisa Hutchings, Heather Bernardin, Barbara Faust
1997	87	251
1998	87	253
1999	87	267	Mary Ann Skehan, Heather Bernardin, Susan Sciaratta, Maggie Schwartz, Jennifer Matherly, Barbara Faust, Lisa Hutchings
2000	79	232	Lisa Colosimo, Mary Ann Skehan, Frann Shore, Andrea Morris, Preash’a Brittingham, Jennifer Slotter, Barbara Faust
2001	84	247	Marjon Parham, Marsha Bischel, Brenda Rian, Susan Best, Megan Kline, Jennifer Coriale, Barbara Faust, Mary Ann Skehan, Lisa Hutchings
2002	81	236	Susan Best, Valarie Schrandt, Susan Sciaratta, Nicole Wilson, Mary Ann Skehan, Marsha Bishel, Barbara Faust, Florella Flores, Betsy Schott, Diana Fernie, Heather Bernardin, Jennifer Coriale
2003	82	245	Ayana wood, Frann Shore, Jennifer Garner, Jennifer Wetzel, Alice Lenthe, Maggie Schwartz, Barbara Faust
2004	85	244	Ayana Wood, Heather Bernardin, Barbara Faust, Lisa Colosimo, Jennifer Wetzel, Mary Ann Skehan, Carole Stowell, Lindsay Mussleman
2005	81	236	Mary Lou Parker, Ayana Wood, Amanda Herz, Barbara Faust, Maggie Schwartz, Jennifer Wetzel, Shannon Oglesby, Irena Ziek, Mary Ann Skehan
2006	74	212	Lisa Colosimo, Nicole Wilson, Ayana Wood, Agnes Muranyi, Carole Stowell, Barbara Faust, Karen Jehanian, Mary Ann Skehan, Doreen Nixon, Jessica Nee, Jennifer Wetzel
2007	80	228	Christine Miller, Nicole Wilson, Carole Stowell, Krista Pohl, Diana Fernie, Stephanie Bortko, Mary Ann Skehan, Crystal Coughlin, Cheryl Teich, Jaclyn Levengood, Barbara Faust, Suchita Dudhich, Susan Best, Diane Maurtz
2008	82	234	Khadija Lynch, Nicole Wilson, Cassandra Shoup, Doreen Nixon, Mary Ann Skehan, Rachel King, Denise Hall, Barbara Faust
2009	83	232	Diana Madden, Jessica Snyder, Victoria Morgan, Bella Bakrania, Agnes Wozniak, Nicole Wilson, Stephanie Bortko, Elisha A. Way, Elizabeth Hill, Aarti Thakar, Barbara Faust, Emily Mitchell, Lisa Myers, Cassandra Shoup, Aina Zahari, Janine Evans