VP of Community Outreach
Shakti Senthil
Aarya Dharm
Anjali Singh
Kathryn Fehme
Shakti Senthil
Why are you running for this executive position?
As part of my highschool robotics team, I had the opportunity to do outreach activities at elementary schools, retirement communities, and even in Botswana, Africa. It is incredibly exciting and fulfilling to see people, especially kids, get excited about technology. Particularly, I love sharing my passion for engineering with those from underrepresented communities who may have had a previously negative experience with engineering or not have known that an engineering career is even an option. I think it’s immensely powerful to be able to renew or jumpstart somebody's interest in engineering, through just one interaction. As VP of community outreach my goal is to grow our interactions with the local community. I believe SWE has the potential to spark kids’ love for engineering across Washington and I want to make that happen. But I'm just one person. To empower more kids, I believe it's important to build a team of leaders who are also passionate about sharing STEM. As a SWE officer, I’ll draw on my experience as a robotics captain to cultivate outreach leaders while learning to lead myself. I’ll also lean on my experiences as a member of the EEC conference team who had to balance SWE with other commitments. As VP of outreach, I want to build projects and a team, where members can balance outreach with their other interests while still having a measurable impact on the community. I plan to do this by having outreach directors train local teachers to share engineering with their students. SWE has established amazing relationships with local organizations and schools and I will leverage those to scale our impact. I am running for VP of outreach because I am passionate about sharing technology with underrepresented students and leading scalable projects by empowering SWE members and local teachers to become STEM leaders.
What is your past involvement with SWE at UW?
My first UW SWE event was the grad student panel. During the event, I met Pranathi and had the opportunity to join the SWE EEC highschool outreach subteam. As we prepare for the event, I’m incredibly motivated by the idea of directly meeting highschoolers and hearing about their experiences with engineering. I’m excited by the impact I can have on the local community through UW SWE and would love to stay involved as VP of outreach.
Aarya Dharm
Why are you running for this executive position?
I am very grateful and lucky for the resources that allowed me to learn about and pursue STEM and I want to share that with other girls who may not be as fortunate, which is why I am running for the VP of Community Outreach.
I found out I wanted to pursue STEM when I just started high school, but I realized quickly that a lot of my male peers who also wanted to go into STEM were already proficient in programming and several other STEM related skills. Back then, and even now, I feel behind my male peers who simply have spent more time learning. But, in high school, I was fortunate that I was able to find a group of women who shared similar goals about STEM. Being surrounded by this supportive community of like-minded women gave me the confidence to pursue my goals. However, I know this is not the case for most women out there and I want to change that. As VP of Community Outreach, I want to help provide them the resources they need to succeed and a community of other women that can build them up.
What is your past involvement with SWE at UW?
In my freshman year, I joined SWE Middle School Outreach as a part of SWE STEM Club. I helped design weekly virtual lessons to teach middle school students about different STEM fields. Each week, we would focus on a specific STEM field and design an activity that relates to that field as well as spotlight a woman in that STEM field. Leading these sessions was a great experience for me to see how the SWE outreach teams impact communities on a personal level. Seeing the girls getting more engaged with the material, and them asking questions about different career paths, has reminded me of how I used to be when I was younger.
This year, I was selected as the Middle School Outreach Director, which means I’m in charge of all the outreach to middle schools. I manage communication with schools and each committee, as well as set up the in person visits that our SWE Explore committee does. In this role, I learned a lot more about the SWE community in CO. It truly was remarkable to see so many people with a passion for helping students achieve success come together and create a safe community for them. I feel so lucky that I was given the opportunity to create this community both in SWE Middle School and in the activities with the students.
Anjali Singh
Why are you running for this executive position?
I'm running for VP of Community Outreach because of my strong experience and passion for engineering outreach. At UW, I've been involved in SWE outreach, Women in Computing Outreach, and Allen School Ambassadors (that work on outreach and expanding computing education). Having this extensive background, I'm knowledgeable about everything that goes into the outreach process: from coordinating needs with schools to presenting intellectually-engaging and hands-on content for students. I'm eager to prioritize quality over quantity by identifying specific topics for events and ensuring that no matter how many students we work with, each one receives the same care and attention they deserve. Additionally, I’m interested in making sure that despite the medium of events, the presence we deliver is strong. Due to ease of accessibility, many of our branches within SWE outreach are virtual, so because of that we need to consider how to keep younger students engaged online, through fun activities and interactions, and likewise for our in-person events, prevent them from being on their phones and up and talking to other students and SWE members. Content in SWE outreach has often been strong, but how we effectively communicate that information, and seem enthusiastic and personable to the students is ultimately how we’ll get through to them. The value of SWE outreach is the opportunity for younger students to cultivate a connection with college students. Personally, I never thought I would end up majoring in what I am today in college — the reason I felt confident enough to was through these types of outreach programs. Outreach has the power to influence younger women who often falsely feel like they don’t deserve or have the capability to learn and study engineering that they can, and I’d really like to continue working for that cause as VP of Community Outreach.
What is your past involvement with SWE at UW?
I joined UW SWE as a committee member in the mentorship program part of High School Outreach, Forward with SWE (FWS), my freshman year. However, my committee lead actually had to step down, and I was pulled up to her position. Due to the previous year being in the pandemic, and having to now act upon as a lead, I really had to dedicate time and energy to restructuring FWS. This gave me an introduction to SWE leadership early-on: I held weekly team meetings with my committee members and coordinated regularly with our partner high school, to essentially create content for our mentorship program from scratch. Because of this, we were able to create strong content that high school mentorship programs can ideally follow years to come. This year, I work as High School Outreach Director, where I oversee three branches: FWS, Engineering Exploration Conference, and High School Events. Each of these branches have 3-6 committee members dedicated to different missions and goals for high schoolers. I regularly meet with these multiple branches and brainstorm ideas and activities, providing content ideation, review, and support. I also act as Forward with SWE committee lead, meeting with members weekly, forming agendas, assigning tasks, and coordinating with supervisors. This year, I single-handedly worked to make FWS incredibly strong, as we regularly partner with 2 schools now, and have strong mentor-mentee relationships. I’ve put in several hours a week since my freshman year into SWE outreach, all ultimately because of my dedication and passion for the cause and team.
Kathryn Fehme
Learn more about Kathryn Fehme by clicking the button underneath her picture above!