Women's Engineering Program

Pre-College Programs

Three images of students engaging in interactive activities of SWE outreach events.4th-Grade Days

4th Grade Days is an annual SWE outreach event during National Engineers Week. Volunteers visit 4th grade classrooms around San Luis Obispo County and lead a one-hour, hands-on activity. The goal is to teach the students about engineering and gain their interest in it so that they may possibly consider it as a career choice in the future.

                               Students holding up their constructions of newspaper tables, created from recycled newspaper and masking tape. During the 2011-12 academic year, it was held February 21st-24th. Students made newspaper tables out of recycled newspaper and masking tape. There were over 20 CENG student volunteers, 12 classrooms and a total of 420 student participants.

Build An Engineer Day

The purpose of the Building an Engineer workshop is to introduce female middle school students to engineering as a career choice. The participants who attend these workshops are introduced to a variety of engineering disciplines, provided a hands-on learning experience, and presented with female engineering role models.

The workshop is generally a day long event that includes lunch. The ultimate goal of the workshop is to increase enrollment of underrepresented students in college engineering programs. During the 2010 - 2011 academic year, this event was held twice with approximately 200 middle school students at each event.

Girl Scout Engineering Badge Day

Annually, SWE hosts a Girl Scout Engineering Day. Local Junior Girl Scouts are invited to Cal Poly to earn a "Cal Poly SWE Engineering Patch." These young ladies typically participate in 5 engineering projects that last 25 minutes each. For the 2010 - 2011 academic year, this event was held twice, once in the fall and once in the spring with close to 100 Girl Scouts at each event.       Girl Scouts and SWE members working together on an engineering project as part of the "Cal Poly SWE Engineering Patch" for local Juinor Girl Scouts.

High School Shadow

Engineering students and high school students touring the campus during the High School Shadow event, hosted biannually by SWE. SWE hosts the High School Shadow (HSS) event biannually. This event is held in winter and spring quarters. HSS serves as an opportunity to preview student life at Cal Poly. During HSS, high school students attend and participate in various engineering labs, meet future professors, and even sign up to stay overnight in the Residence Halls with a current engineering student. For more information visit SWE's website here.

Go to the Cal Poly Society of Women Engineers home page for the most current information about any of these events.

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