With funding courtesy of the Program Development Grant (PDG), the Calvin University collegiate section partnered with the Grand Rapids professional section to host a Mentorship Program event. The event targeted students and professionals in the Grand Rapids, Michigan, area to help students have a better understanding of the professional engineering industry.
The event encouraged networking between 50 collegiates and 12 professional mentors over the course of two months from March to May 2021. It was remarkable how much the students bonded with the professionals, sharing experiences women face in the tech industry.
The event involved games to help establish connections, along with facilitated question and answer sessions. By the end of the event, students could clearly articulate what field of engineering they would like to go into.
Here are some best practice suggestions from the event:
- Be open-minded and willing to use the resources that your SWE section has.
- Collegiate sections need to muster the courage to reach out to people in order to build a network of great professional mentors.
Are you interested in learning more about receiving PDG funding? Or perhaps you are ready to request funding? Learn more on the PDG website.
