VOLUME 5
ISSUE NO.4
PITT SWE
DECEMBER, 2014
THE UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH, SOCIETY OF WOMEN ENGINEERS
The Etiquette Dinner By Becky Glucksman
On December 5th, Pitt SWE hosted our annual Etiquette Dinner. The purpose of this dinner is to teach students about proper professional etiquette in an informal setting. The event began with a presentation from career services on the do’s and don’ts. Some of the tips were to take the lead from the host or hostess. Don’t eat until they start eating. Also, judge the price of what you order based on what they order. Don’t order anything that is a lot more expensive than what the host/ hostess has ordered. Try not to order anything too messy like spaghetti. They also briefly went through the silverware placement. Tip: if there are multiple forks or spoons, you start with the silverware farthest away from the plate, and work your way in. There are also slight differences between how you should eat if you are eating American or European style. For European style, you will always have your fork in your left hand
and knife in your right. For the American style of eating, after you are done cutting a piece of food, you will place your knife down and switch your fork from your left to right hand. Following the career services presentation, we had dinner catered by Giant Eagle. For dinner, we had chicken, salad, lasagna, and cookies. During dinner, the attendees were allowed to network and learn from professionals we invited from ANSYS, our sponsor, and US
Steel. Even after dinner ended, students remained to sit around and talk to the professionals. Sometimes it is difficult to know how to act around professionals or at a professional event. Etiquette Dinner allows students to learn about what to do when you are invited out to dinner and how to interact in a proper manner. It is nice to learn how to act in a less formal setting and then be able to practice before it actually matters.
Highlights: In this Issue
ALSO INCLUDED RIDDLE, 2 UPCOMING EVENTS, 2 OFFICER OF THE MONTH, 3
CROWDFUNDING
HOLIDAY PARTY
PAGE 2
PAGE 3
NEXT MONTH
Team Building Workshop: 1/12 Women in STEM Conference: 1/17 Coffee Hour-Study Abroad: 1/21 Industry Event: Week of 1/20 Hack-A-Thon: 1/30-2/1
If you get the answer to the riddle, bring it to the SWE office to claim your cool prize!
Crowdfunding By Geena Petrone
This holiday season, Pitt SWE has participated in a pilot program at the University of Pittsburgh called Engage Pitt. It is a form of crowdfunding adapted for a university environment. With the help of Pitt SWE members and other members of the Swanson School of Engineering community, we launched our campaign at the beginning of December! The fundraiser has the very important goal of improving our Spring Outreach events. O u r e v e n t s , E l e m e n t a r y E n g i n e e r i n g Extravaganza, Middle School Engineering Day, High School Engineering Day, Girl Scout Engineering Day and SWEvening are aimed to inspire the future engineers of tomorrow. With the additional funding provided by this campaign, we will be able to make our events even better, by lengthening the duration of the events, having a greater number of participants, as well as incorporating more technology-focused activities. It is our hope that upon leaving our outreach events, students will feel excited about the field of engineering and will one day pursue it as a career. The campaign has been a success due in large part to the support from the strong community at the University of Pittsburgh within the Swanson School of Engineering. Please visit our site, https://engage.pitt.edu/ for more information!
RIDDLE In a contest, four fruits (an apple, a banana, an orange, and a pear) have been placed in four closed boxes (one fruit per box). People may guess which fruit is in which box. 123 people participate in the contest. When the boxes are opened, it turns out that 43 people have guessed none of the fruits correctly, 39 people have guessed one fruit correctly, and 31 people have guessed two fruits correctly. How many people have guessed three fruits correctly, and how many people have guessed four fruits correctly?
Holiday Party By Tara Manesh
During the last . semester, Pitt Society of Women Engineers hosted our annual Holiday Party. We had a g reat and enthusiastic outpour of individuals. This event helped create better and stronger ties between our members and provided a chance to escape from the hectic week of finals. We enjoyed playing games like pin the nose on the snowman, listening to holiday music, and eating some yummy food— pizza and chocolate chip cookies. We also had a chance to decorate some holiday cookies and create cards to send abroad to soldiers overseas. Decorating cards to send to the men overseas was a rewarding experience that I know will be appreciated. Hopefully our cards will brighten a soldier’s day, and
let him/her know that we are all thankful for the sacrifice he/ she is making. Overall, the party had a fantastic turnout with a great atmosphere. It was
a perfect break for members and an amazing bonding experience for anyone that went.
OFFICER OF THE MONTH: BROOKE ARNOLD Brooke was chosen for her work on the newsletter. She loves SWE because everyone has a common interest and is going through the same stress from school work and we can all help each other through it.
Thank you!
Class: Freshman! Major: Bioengineering
Position: Special Even ts Interests and Clubs: SW
E, Math Club, Crafts, Skiin g, Frozen and Kickboxing.