 March Newsletter |
| Highlights |
 Celebrating the incredible women who inspire, empower, and lead! It was an honor to co-host this empowering event with Women in Defense – Tennessee Valley Chapter in recognition of International Women’s Day. |
| Upcoming Events |
| April Section Meeting and Social Saturday, April 5, 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 |
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 Just as a few notes: 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 |
| Girls in Science and Engineering Day April 12, 8 AM – 6 PM at UAH We are excited for another year at Girls in Science and Engineer Day! This year, our workshop is titled “Building the Future with Additive Manufacturing.” We will have three stations set up with different activities relating to additive manufacturing. A workshop guide, training materials, and agenda will be sent prior to the event. Volunteers will also get to practice for about an hour prior to the start of the first workshop in the morning and afternoon. Extra details: Lunch will be provided for all volunteers. The morning timeslot will have 3rd & 4th grade students and the afternoon will have 5th and 6th grade students. Volunteer Donations Materials for the activities will cost around $350. If you wish to make a donation, please use the link below Donate |
| 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 |
| General Announcements |
| NAL SWE Engineer of the Year Awards The North Alabama Society of Women Engineers seeks to recognize outstanding engineers for their professional, academic, and leadership achievements. The annual awards program recognizes three engineers at varying levels of their careers, outlined in the packet available on our website. Please consider nominating yourself, a colleague, classmate, or friend for recognition. The deadline for nomination is April 12, 2025 at 23:59 CDT. Learn More |
| FY26 Elections |
| Timeline 4/14 Deadline to volunteer for Nominations/Tellers Committee. 4/15 – 4/30 Leadership team applications open. 5/1 – 5/15 Elections open. |
| Nominations and Tellers Committee Chairs and members of the Nomination and Tellers committees may not run for leadership positions in this election. The commitment period is from April-May of this year. These roles will be filled on a first come first serve volunteer basis. If you are interested, send us an email at nal@swe.org with the subject line “Committee Volunteer.” Nomination Committee Chair (Filled) Receive and review applications for leadership positions and assemble a ballot based on submissions. Communicate directly with section president. Nomination Committee Member (Filled) Assist chair in receipt and review of applications for leadership positions. Verify the ballot is correct prior to submission. Tellers Committee Chair Tally votes after the election period has ended. Confer with Tellers Committee Member to confirm accurate count. Submit results to section president. Tellers Committee Member Tally votes after the election period has ended. Confer with Tellers Committee Chair to confirm accurate count. Leadership Positions See the links below for more information about each leadership position. If you have any questions, please reach out to us by email. President Data Officer Treasurer |
| 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. Q4 Membership Chair Commitment length April – June 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 Q4 Outreach Chair Commitment length April – June 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 Professional Development Chair Commitment length April – June Duties Plan one professional development for the section per quarter Examples include Speaker Series, educational seminars, resume reviews, interview prep, financial health sessions, tours, etc. Email us |
 NAL SWE Merch The merch is in! Send us an email to schedule pickup/delivery of your items. |
| 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 Essay Contest The final review of essays is next week–keep an eye out for our winner announcements! GSED Committee Members of the committee putting the final touches on the workshops we’ll present at GSED Elections Officers are preparing standard work documents to share with prospective nominees |
| Topic of the Month |
| Women’s History Month “Don’t let anyone rob you of your imagination, your creativity, or your curiosity. It’s your place in the world; it’s your life. Go on and do all you can with it, and make it the life you want to live.” – Mae Jemison As we move forward, know that you have an impact. Our resolve and drive can never truly be taken from us. Women’s history is being created every moment as we remember the women who have inspired us. Learn more and celebrate 75 years of SWE via the link below SWE Resources |
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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. |