How I Came To Love Engineering

My first flight as a kid was to Amsterdam and the pilot was a hilarious man with an accent I could not get enough of and I fell in love with the whole flight experience.

 I couldn’t get enough of the idea that I was in the air like a bird! I decided I would be a pilot! I can still remember my mother saying in her ever practical Caribbean fashion, “As long as you are fine not seeing me or anyone in your family because you’ll be in the air all the time…”? My mother may have exaggerated to keep her only daughter out of the air but it certainly did the trick! I no longer wanted to be a pilot.

 #Monkey See, Monkey Do!

When I go to Grade 9 both my brothers were in school for engineering and I had always copied everything they did. I discovered aeronautic engineering and it sounded like the perfect substitute to being a pilot! It did not hurt that my brothers were encouraging and If they could do it, I certainly could! I was always better at school in any place.  

 With a ton of encouragement from my parents and high school grades in the mid 80’s, I went into my first year of engineering assuming it would be easy enough to get good grades. Boy, was I wrong.

 First Year Failure!

 Like a few people, I was one of those students who took the idea of “freedom” in university to heart. I was never a partier but I developed a habit far worse…I was lazier than a sloth. I skipped class and thought I could just catch up just like I had in high school.

I did not have exemplary grades in my first year and when second year rolled around with the same set of C’s, D’s, and E’s I sat down and evaluated what I wanted. Did I want to be an engineer? Was it that hard or was I not putting in enough effort?  

 #Starting Again

After almost changing majors and taking a year off, I started the process all over again and I am so glad I stuck it out! Over the years, I have come to love engineering for more than the math and science it is painted to be, but for the diverse critical thinking skills it teaches you.

 Skills that come in handy when trying to solve every day problems. I thought it was a perfect profession for women who could bring a much-needed social aspect to the profession. However, in my years in school the number of women who enrolled has visibly shrunk and this genuinely bothered me.

 I started doing some research and realized that women made up 59% percent of undergraduate degree holders but only 23% are in engineering. The numbers get worse when we look at computer science in particular. With further research, I realized the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) community is having trouble retaining women in most fields within that spectrum.

 For the next year and a half, I researched, wrote papers and found that if I wanted change I would have to do something! The lack of women in STEM affects us all and in the long run your daughter’s ARE smart enough and their uniqueness IS an asset not a disadvantage!

Through this website, I will debunk some famous myths about boys and girls, give advice on raising your best girls and as a whole just trying to encourage women all over the world in their educational pursuits!