Kathryn Fehme

Shreya Ramakrishnan

Why are you running for this executive position?

When you think back to your childhood, do you remember having crazy big dreams that seemed unrealistic and unattainable? When I think of mine, the first thing that comes to mind was my big dreams of being at the University of Washington and becoming this empowered woman that would work at NASA one day. I set out to do everything I could to reach those goals one by one. When I did it, it felt surreal. Growing up, I was discouraged from pursuing STEM in two aspects of my life; my middle eastern ethnic culture and my small rural community. There were no resources at hand to support young women like me. I searched for ways to learn more about engineering in my community and came short. There were no clubs or events to attend and no one to connect with. After realizing I needed to look outside of my area, I came across SWE Next.

SWE was what I had been looking for. I eagerly jumped at the opportunity and told myself that one day I would make sure the young people in the unreached areas would be reached. I believe SWE at UW is the perfect platform to achieve this goal. SWE is all about providing resources to the next generation to help them find success in their careers. This is why I was so quickly drawn to them. I have a passion for helping people succeed. If elected as VP, I will prioritize the need of providing resources to students of all ages. Whether that be for the unrecognized middle schoolers and high schoolers, or the amazing community represented here at UW, I will use every ounce of dedication to help each person thrive.

What is your past involvement with SWE at UW?

During my one quarter of being in the UW SWE, I had the opportunity to serve on the Virtual Contents branch in Community Outreach. I worked specifically on the social media team. There I got to create a new theme for the Instagram page that would draw the attention of our community. My teammate and I reached out to schools through social media by contacting and communicating through our platform. I got to expand my knowledge in graphic design using new software to show my fun and captivating ideas. I created the flyer for the annual Engineering Exploration Committee (EEC) conference, and I am currently creating a new logo for the event. I desired to be more involved with volunteering and actually attend the outreach events. I am thrilled to now be attending my first outreach event in a couple of weeks. I have used my creativity and design skills to help promote our cause to the community, and am excited to be using new skills as I move forward in my journey with UW SWE.

Why are you running for this executive position?

SWE has helped me so much in making connections with companies through its corporate events, such as SWEhacks and Evening with Industry. Taking advantage of these connections allowed me to use them in my recruiting season this year, helping me secure an internship. SWE has had such a positive impact on me, which has made me want to continue that cycle and contribute to the community, helping other SWE members receive the same benefits that I did.

Over the last three years, I have had the chance to give back to SWE as the Evening with Industry 2023 and Evening with Industry 2022 director, as well as being a committee member for SWE Hacks 21. This year especially, I worked closely with the current VP of Corporate Relations, Archita, and gained a lot of insight into the inner workings of all our corporate events. Being a member of the Corporate Relations team in my different roles has been a rewarding experience that I’d love to take to the next level. Becoming VP of Corporate Relations will allow me to have a greater impact on the professional development of the SWE community as a whole.

Finally, through my previous roles in SWE, I have had the chance to develop excellent organization as well as communication skills. As VP of Corporate Relations, I would need to help plan large scale events, which requires a lot of organization to ensure the best experience for our members. Additionally, I would need to communicate with recruiters and company representatives to get sponsorships for our events. Having developed the communication skills I need through talking to company representatives in my previous roles, I know that I have the ability to do you justice as your VP of Corporate Relations.

What is your past involvement with SWE at UW?

I joined SWE in my freshman year as a committee member for SWE Hacks 2021. From there, I have held two general officer positions, as the Co-Director for Evening with Industry 2022 and the Director for Evening with Industry 2023. This past year I was the Director for Evening with Industry, a networking event that allows students seeking internships and co-op opportunities to have a banquet style dinner with recruiters and company representatives, allowing them to connect in a low stress environment.

As the director of Evening with Industry this year, I’ve had to secure potential sponsors for the event, as well as handle event planning details such as registration, catering, and venue. Through this experience, I learned how to communicate with recruiters and company representatives as well as plan a large scale event. I handled all email communication with companies and secured 10 sponsors for the event. As this being the first time the event was in person after a long time, I had to plan a lot of the logistics from scratch, which involved reaching out to other schools who had done an in person EWI recently. These were different challenges than I had to handle last year as the co director for an online Evening with Industry. Last year involved preparing for different online scenarios due to the uncertainty surrounding the event, I also had to communicate with sponsors and plan scheduling last year. Handling these challenges allowed me to become more adaptable and prepared for uncertainty. This year, given the current economic situation for many companies, it was difficult to secure sponsors for the event this year, which proved to be a significant challenge. To ensure a successful event, I had to work closely with the current VP of Corporate Relations, Archita, to double outreach efforts and use different avenues. The uncertainty surrounding sponsorship for the event led to uncertainty with logistics as well, so we had to detail out different event plans for each potential scenario. However, the challenges last year prepared me very well for the similar challenges that I faced in this role this year. Additionally, by working with a committee, I was given the opportunity to build delegation and management skills, both of which would be crucial as a VP working with a team of general officers. Through these roles, I gained valuable experience in managing a team, communicating with representatives, and planning an event, all of which would be invaluable in being the VP of Corporate Relations.