Bridgewater-Raritan High School’s Anika Seshan, Ruby Sethi, and Lauren Yang, who are AP Physics 1 students, attended the Princeton Spring High School Engineering Colloquium organized by the Princeton University Society of Women Engineers on Saturday, April 19.
According to Dr. Eleni Arapaki, who is the AP Physics 1 and 2 Teacher at Bridgewater-Raritan High School, the Princeton chapter of the National Society of Women Engineers (SWE) is an organization that supports women in engineering and also dedicates time to encouraging younger women to become engineers.
“One of the organization’s major goals is outreach, and in a rapidly developing world with endless opportunities for discovery, creativity, and invention, building a strong workforce of engineers is essential to moving new ideas forward,” Dr. Arapaki said.
Dr. Arapaki continued her report on the all-day session at Princeton.
“The event series is designed to introduce high school students to the field of engineering and provide them with an excellent opportunity to make connections with current female engineers and other students interested in STEM. The event included a panel of Princeton professors with a Q&A session, a panel of students studying the various fields of engineering with chances for small group discussion, a hands-on engineering activity led by Princeton engineering students, and an expo of various engineering extracurriculars at Princeton, ranging from their car racing club to their aerospace and rocket launching club! “
Dr. Arapaki concluded:
“Our students had the opportunity to tour the E-Quad, Princeton's Engineering Department, where they competed in a bridge-building competition and won first place! The experience was really fun and exciting!”