In the spring of 2022, SWE’s Society-Level Outreach Committee hosted the Outreach Playbook Challenge to give SWE sections, affiliates and MALs an opportunity to showcase their best outreach activities and create a “playbook” that other SWE members can use to replicate the activity in their own outreach efforts.
Participating sections submitted incredible playbooks that showcased their love of engineering, SWE, and their local communities. The top two submissions in each tier received a monetary prize to support their future outreach efforts.
Thank you to the SWE sections, affiliates and members who participated! Thanks also to the volunteer judges who helped review the submissions.
View all the FY22 Outreach Playbook Challenge submissions here.
Congratulations to the winners below!
Winning Professional Sections, Affiliates and MALs:
1st Place
SWE Houston Area, Professional Section
SWE – Houston Area runs a successful and diverse Outreach Program that is consistently improving as our network grows. In FY22, we were able to reach more than 250 students and introduce them to all sorts of engineering through hands-on activities, real-life discussions about college and some of our day-to-day jobs, as well as award over $60,000 in scholarships to outstanding female students around the Houston area. Our annual “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” has been virtual for the last two years, however, we are excited and planning to host the event in-person this fiscal year, where we hope to see many new faces. Our Outreach Program owes its success to our eager volunteers who step up to dedicate their time to provide outreach to girls in the city of Houston and surrounding areas.
2nd Place
SWE Boston, Professional Section
SWE Boston is committed to exposing as many K-12 students to STEM concepts as possible, using both virtual and in-person events and focusing on hands-on activities. Over the past 4 years, SWE Boston has planned and executed a total of 48 K-12 Outreach events with a total of 115 volunteers helping to plan and run those events. In a recent poll to our members, a gap in programming about Environmental Engineering was identified, which sparked the focus of the new Environmental Challenge event that SWE Boston piloted in 2022 and hopes to make a large, annual in-person event!
1st Place
Cal Poly San Luis Obispo SWE, Collegiate Section
One of the main priorities of Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo’s SWE Section is to empower the next generation to consider engineering as an option for them, and to let them know that anyone can be an engineer! We host events almost every weekend geared towards different age ranges in order to expose students of all ages to the world of engineering through fun and engaging activities. One of our favorite events we hosted this year was Fourth Grade Days where we visited over 1,100 4th grade students and made paper rockets with them to teach them about aerospace engineering!
2nd Place
Georgia Institute of Technology SWE, Collegiate Section
Georgia Tech SWE upholds the goal to develop and maintain relationships with the local Atlanta community, whether that be interacting with students or environmental and humanitarian aid organizations, with the hopes of taking little steps to a large positive impact. The Youth Programs and Community Outreach teams work together to plan, organize, and host collaborations with local elementary/middle/high schools, SWENext chapters, and community groups such as the Southern Center for Human Rights.
