The path to closing the gender gap in engineering begins with one vital first step: inspiring young girls to believe that they belong in STEM.
The “Be That Engineer” Literacy Project is an initiative founded by the JoCo Girls SWENext Club in 2022 aiming to do just that. There is a critical need to show students female STEM role models and to affirm that STEM is a field where every student has the potential to thrive.
This project engages female STEM professionals from companies like Caterpillar, the U.S. Space Force, Grifols, and Novo Nordisk to sign and write encouraging notes inside of children’s books. These books are curated from the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) recommended STEM reads list, featuring stories of girls succeeding in engineering.
The notes written inside include reasons to pursue engineering, personal experiences in STEM, and the joy that these female STEM professionals have experienced in becoming an engineer. The books are then presented at schools and libraries, often accompanied by a robotics demonstration, and donated so that students can read and find encouragement from the messages inside the books for years to come.
The program has enjoyed tremendous growth over the years, donating books across nine U.S. states and eight countries, including 15 North Carolina schools, and reaching thousands of students. Previously, all of the books were signed by industry professionals.
However, on Oct. 6, the project went in a new direction by partnering with North Carolina State University’s SWE Section to host a book signing night. Members of the SWE section, who are current engineering students at North Carolina State University, came together to sign books to donate to elementary schools in the Raleigh area.
Expanding the signatures to include women engineering students shows young girls that even college women, only a few years older than the students, are making a real impact in STEM — and that they can, too. This was the first signing event with a collegiate SWE Section, with hopefully many more to come.
Inspiring future engineers can start with small acts of encouragement. Representation matters, and when students see women not much older than themselves solving problems, leading, and making a difference in the world, it makes the daunting world of STEM attainable. Simply knowing that STEM is within reach can spark a young girl’s confidence, and sometimes that spark begins with a book.
