WE15: Society of Women Engineers National Conference 2015

This past week, I was honored to experience my first professional conference with the Society of Women Engineers. I was able to room with my aunt who was co-speaking with a Boeing professional in a professional workshop. The experience was unbelievable, beginning with my first flight on my own to Nashville and ending with returning safely home with all of my beautiful SWE-sters.

The conference began with a Collegiate Leadership Institute (CLI) meet and greet, where I was able to meet some of the other SWEFLs and regional collegiate government leaders. The following day, CLI hosted morning workshops that spanned topics such as 'Collegiate to Career' and 'Building Brand You.' Afterwards in the evening, I attended my first conference career fair.

This career fair was far from what I was used to within my university's buildings. The floor plan for the fair was immense and companies spared no expense showing off their products and employees. I immediately beelined to any medical device company I could find, and with great luck I hit Boston Scientific first. I say great luck, because within the first five minutes of speaking to a recruiter, I was ushered over to a manager to schedule an interview.

An hour later, I find myself interviewing with a professional with experience in neuro-modulation. I pray I did well in describing my passions for the medical industry, my volunteer experiences in Texas health institutions, my involvement on UNT's campus and within my collegiate SWE chapter... Hopefully I will hear back soon on any opportunities or feedback on how I can continue to improve myself on an industry level.

Other effective moments of conference were sitting in on both the professional and collegiate Region C business meetings, hearing testimonies of working mothers, and getting to spend time with my SWE-sters that was not revolved around completing our engineering homework. I am very proud of all of the experiences I gained and all of the opportunities I was exposed to. But beyond any occurrences of conference, the thing I liked most about WE15 was that I came back feeling fearless. I came back invigorated to continue growing myself as an engineer and (possibly) doctor. I was reminded that nobody on this earth is allowed to hold me back, and that includes myself. I realized I had been building up my own wall in-between me and my goals, and that was prohibiting me from truly accomplishing any results. WE15 showed me that that kind of behavior to myself was unacceptable, and it showed me that I am capable of accomplishing anything.

I pray this euphoric feeling lasts for awhile. I want to return to my responsibilities as a student, ER volunteer, SWE VP, and UNT Compliments President with the best of my abilities and passions. I know more than likely, the euphoria will fade and stress will try to bite down into my mind once more, but hey, thats why we have Region C Conference coming up to keep the network and support going! 

Though I don't know if any SWE members will read this, I want to publically announce that you have made a difference in my life. Just by announcing membership to SWE, you have kept this organization going. And consequently, you have kept me going. Without SWE, I think I would've given up a long time ago, but thankfully, I do have SWE and know I will never give up.

Thank you WE15.