What a fantastic experience for Society of Women Engineers two weeks ago in Washington, DC. This was SWE’s seventh year at Capitol Hill Day. This year, we advocated for a more inclusive and diverse U.S. STEM workforce. SWE educated members of congress on how a commitment to attaining this type of engineering workforce will help to maintain U.S. competitiveness through innovation.
SWE’s Day On The Hill was March 3 … with preparations and training sessions March 2. SWE arrived mid-morning to
the Washington Court Hotel, in the heart of DC. SWE members were greeted with a lunch buffet and invited to join the Congressional Visit Training session. What is a Congressional Visit Training session? It’s where SWE members are educated on how to discuss the advocacy topics with the members of congress. During the training session we heard from SWE leaders on public policy issues related to women in STEM, we learned what to expect from the administration and congress during in-person visits; and, we did a little role playing – to practice those discussions we were about to have the following day on The Hill.
The evening after the training session SWE hosted our own Congressional Reception. This reception was for SWE members and congressmen … the congressmen were invited to get a sneak peak into the issues we to be advocating on. SWE was lucky enough to have The Honorable Donna Edwards, The Honorable Dan Lipinski and The Honorable Paul Tonko stop by the reception.
The following day was SWE’s official Day On The Hill. HQ joined current SWE President, Colleen Layman and Past FY15 SWE President, Elizabeth Bierman as they made their congressional visits. Elizabeth and Colleen visited congressman from the states of Wisconsin and Minnesota … discussing Title 9, why it is so important to continue to fund National Science Foundation and the importance of the re-authorization the America COMPETES Act.
Did you know? SWE debuted the use of Snapchat during Capitol Hill Day, you can find add us by username by searching SWEorg OR by Snapcode. Below is a recap video of everything we Snapped …
