When you think of an engineer, who do you picture in your mind? A middle-aged man wearing glasses with a pencil tucked behind his ear? Why do you picture a man? Is it because men dominate the engineering field? A study showed that only 20% percent of students in the engineering field are female. However, this percent is now rising with the rallied encouragement of female engineers.   

On February 11th, Bob Jones High School’s Society of Women Engineers presented this year’s members at their first induction. Parents, siblings, and former guest speakers came to celebrate the new members in this formal event. At the induction itself, a few students spoke for the society and a recently retired NASA engineer, Teresa Vanhooser, was the honorary guest speaker for the occasion.

SWE is a national organization originally founded in 1950 and has since then spread across the nation and the world, encouraging the growth and spread of women engineers. The 2015-2016 school year is the first year SWE has been established at Bob Jones High School.

Jessye Gaines, a current engineering teacher, shared her rationale for founding the school’s new group. “I don’t normally have a large number of females in each class, so I wanted an ‘engineering’ environment for them to all meet each other and feel a sense of camaraderie and not feel discouraged that they are the ‘only’ girl taking engineering classes.”

Current senior Juliette Gurganious is one of the original members of Bob Jones High School’s SWE who spoke at the induction last week, and she shared similar thoughts on the purpose of the Society of Women Engineers. “SWE creates a positive environment for us to encourage both females and all students pursuing careers in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields.  It helps us to believe that we have the ability to do anything we set our mind to.”

The new society has taken off to a great start with over 20 members ranging through all grades, and the numbers are sure to rise in the future as more people learn about SWE at Bob Jones.