Volunteering for Go ENG Girl

Go ENG Girl is an event that is near and dear to my heart. In high school I favored math and science classes  but even liked music and art. I knew I wanted to go into either science or engineering but I really didn't know the difference between them. I finally chose Biotechnology; a program that combined the two. It was perfect! I would take biochemistry classes in the science department and chemical engineering classes from the engineering department. There was only one small bump in my plan. After the first year in the biotechnology program it was clear that I LOVED ENGINEERING! I was excited by my physics lab, I looked forward to programming and in general was just overjoyed when I had to go to my engineering classes! The following year, I applied for and was accepted into Environmental Engineering at Carleton and have never looked back.

I feel that the Go ENG Girl program is great because it allows girls the opportunity to explore engineering and hopefully spark an interest in the profession. I love engineering and it's something that I wished I had discovered at an earlier age. I've volunteered with Go ENG Girl for a number of years and if you are a student at Carleton I encourage you to do the same! The event is well organized and even though it's a on a Saturday and you have to get your butt out of bed, you'll have so much fun doing the activities with the girls that it's well worth it. It's an all around great volunteer experience.

Go ENG Girl is a half day event for Grade 7-10 girls across Ontario to visit their local university to learn about the wonderful world of engineering: "A Caring Profession." WISE is currently looking for volunteers to help make the event a success. Volunteers are needed to help with registration, give lab tours and help run activities. All training and materials will be provided and lunch is provided. Go ENG Girl is scheduled for Saturday October 13, 2012 at Carleton University and other universities accross Ontario. For more information about Go ENG Girl please visit www.ospe.on.ca/goenggirl.

Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon

Listening to an episode of Q on CBC Radio in April, I happened to hear an interview with Sarah Stierch, the Wikipedian-in-Residence at the Smithsonian Archives. Our event was planned while her voice still echoed in my kitchen. The discussion was about the presence of female scientists on Wikipedia, where women make up only 9% of the editors.  The average Wikipedia editor is college educated, 30 years old, white, and male (Stierch, 2012). By not becoming a Wikipedia editor myself, I was allowing history to be written by rich white men yet again.

I have learned how to edit Wikipedia and I have collected resources on female scientists, now I need your help to change these statistics. Note: if you are a college educated, 30 year old, white man you are also welcome to attend. 

We will be holding a Wikipedia Edit-A-Thon on Thursday September 20^th from 6-9pm in the Canal Building Room 5301. Bring snacks to share and we will learn how to edit Wikipedia together and add some female scientists to the list of notable historical figures represented on Wikipedia.

Due to high interest we have to limit the number of participants to this event to 40. Please RSVP here!

Stierch, Sarah. Q. CBC Radio One. 91.5 FM, Ottawa. 18 April 2012. Radio.