 February Newsletter Highlights   Attendees of our Financial Planning Seminar enjoyed learning about wealth management and planning for the future over dinner at the Geeks and Nerds office downtown. |
| Upcoming Events |
International Women’s Day Celebration  Join North Alabama SWE and Women in Defense Tennessee Valley Chapter for an evening of celebration! Learn More |
| March Section Meeting and Social Saturday, March 8, 1 PM – 2 PM Downtown Huntsville Public Library Meeting Room A 915 Monroe Street Huntsville, AL 35801 Meet fellow members and learn about what is going on in the section! The meeting will begin at 1 PM with the social immediately to follow. |
| Outreach Opportunities |
| North Alabama Regional Science and Engineering Fair February 28, from 8:00 AM – 3:00 PM Find out more information below on how to volunteer! Volunteer |
FIRST State Championship FIRST in Alabama is in urgent need of volunteers for the State Championship February 22, at New Century Technology High School 2500 Meridian St. Volunteer FIRST Rocket City Regional  FIRST in Alabama is looking for several volunteers for the Rocket City Regional. We need both event volunteers as well as volunteers to run our information booth on Saturday. SWE Information Booth NAL SWE will host an information booth from 8 AM – 5PM on Saturday, March 15. We will have a small STEM project attendees can participate in as well as flyers with more information about SWE and SWENext. Volunteer Event Volunteering Wednesday, March 12 through Saturday, March 15 FIRST Robotics Competition (FRC) Rocket City Regional at Von Braun Center, South Hall, 700 Monroe St SW, Huntsville, AL 35801 A few notes from FIRST: FIRST events are all free and open to the public! Feel free to come to events as volunteers or spectators and bring your family! Teams are always giving away trinkets and buttons to spectators. Volunteers receive volunteer shirts and breakfast/lunch at our events. Most of our events run on a schedule of around 7AM-5PM, but this can vary some, and we can assign volunteers to specific shifts if they are not available for the full day. Dress comfy/casual – Think jeans and tennis shoes (closed toe/heel shoes are required) to go with your volunteer t-shirt. Also at our FRC events, you will have to wear safety glasses in certain areas. We will provide these. Here are instructions on how to sign up to volunteer: Log into the FIRST Dashboard at firstinspires.org. (Make an account if needed.) Choose the Volunteer Registration Tab Choose Event Volunteering Use the filters to search for FIRST Events in Alabama Choose the event(s) at which you want to volunteer Choose Volunteer Select the date and roles (You can just put “Assign Me as Needed” if you don’t want a specific role.) Hit Next Hit Complete Volunteers who are 18+ will have to do the FIRST Youth Protection Policy background check before they can be assigned to a volunteer role. That takes a couple of days to clear, so you will want to fill it out ASAP. Volunteer Volunteer Information/Guide Youth Protection Survey Guide |
| AAMU Guest Speakers SWE at AAMU is back! The leadership team is looking for guest speakers who can come to meetings–if you are interested, please fill out the form below. Volunteer |
| Grace’s Girls’ Club Grace’s Girls’ Club, hosted by Grace Anello on WAAY 31 News, is a place for everyone, especially young women and girls, to learn about STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) careers. Grace reached out asking for members who are interested in participating in brief interviews to talk about their careers, including their day-to-day activities and what education they pursued to get there. If you or someone you know would be interested, please nominate them using the form below. Volunteer |
| Girls in Science and Engineering Day Save the date! GSED is on April 12 this year–we are still developing the content for our sessions but will share more details soon! |
| General Announcements |
| Workplace DEI Policy Changes We have received notices from several members about policies changing within the workplace regarding involvement in SWE or other groups that fall under the DEI umbrella. While we monitor these changes, we recommend that members change their contact preferences to a personal email in order to ensure continued access to our communications; you can do this by emailing us or by changing your contact information in your SWE account. We are saddened by these developments but not discouraged. North Alabama SWE will continue to be a place for people to connect, collaborate, and learn. If you have any questions, concerns, or ideas, please feel free to reach out to us. Email us |
| Call for Committee Chairs We are seeking volunteers for the committee positions listed below. If you are interested in volunteering, please email us using the button below. Chair positions are available on a first come, first served basis. Q3 Membership Chair Commitment length January – March Duties Coordinate and plan membership events and initiatives that strengthen membership One social gathering per quarter Other ideas can include (but aren’t limited to) facilitating discussion groups, promoting SWE resources, welcoming new members, and assisting with the Awards Committee Q3 Outreach Chair Commitment length January – March Duties Coordinate volunteers who are focused on K12 outreach events Support individual event chairs Coordinating new partnerships and outreach opportunities Keep up with outreach events that occur throughout the year, including SWENext support (JCHS, BJHS, and Athens Renaissance School), FIRST events, BEST events, local school STEAM nights, etc Special Opportunity: Help plan for GSED FLL Rocket City Regional Email us |
| FY26 Elections We are midway through the fiscal year, so elections are right around the corner. Nominations and Tellers Committees Short term positions Nomination chair & member and Tellers chair & member Leadership positions Applications for leadership positions open in April, and role descriptions and leader standard work documents will be shared soon. Open positions President Treasurer Data Officer Additional positions still under consideration Elections will occur in May |
| Job Postings NAL SWE is offering free job postings via our blog. If you or your employer would like to share jobs with our members, reach out to us via email. View Jobs |
| Membership Programming Poll What would you like to see from NAL SWE? Use the poll below to give us feedback and let us know what types of events you’d like to see in the future. Poll |
| Call for Speakers We’re hosting a virtual speaker series, and we’re looking for speakers! Interested in presenting? Use the interest form below to briefly pitch your ideas. You don’t need to have fully formed presentations yet, and we can help with development as needed. Poll |
| Behind the Scenes Awards Committee The Awards Committee is working on developing an awards program for the section–thank you Lindsey and Suki! Essay Contest Volunteers are busy reading essays! After all of the scores are submitted, we’ll move on to final review. |
| Topic of the Month |
| Black History Month February is recognized as Black History Month, a time to honor and celebrate the significant contributions, achievements, and rich cultural history of Black individuals throughout history. Check out the links below to learn more about how to celebrate locally and with SWE. SWE Resources Local Events Learn About North Alabama NSBE |
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| Have ideas for outreach or events? |
| Email us! We’d love to have your input on what is important to you or how you’d like SWE to participate in the community. NAL SWE is always open to feedback and ideas. Email Us |
| Donate North Alabama SWE is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. All donations are 100% tax-deductible. Donations go towards providing resources to students and members through outreach, professional development, and more. We appreciate your support! If you are no longer interested in receiving emails from NAL SWE, please email us at nal@swe.org. |