She's Not Stubborn, She's Persistent

By Elyse Chess

I recently had the opportunity to attend the Society of Women Engineers' WeLocal Detroit conference. This was my first ever conference experience, and I am very happy to have been able to experience it during my first year with PittSWE Although I enjoyed and learned a lot from each keynote and session I attended, one stands out as my favorite: a talk by Kate Cicchino entitled "She's Not Stubborn, She's Persistent " During this talk, Kate shared some of her favorite pieces of advice collected from a diverse range of people, ranging from her grandfather to a college professor to Thomas Jefferson. I found this session to be incredibly helpful and am still noticing the many ways in which I can apply Kate's advice to my own life. I learned about speaking up for myself, the importance of hard work (coupled with a healthy work-life balance!), surrounding myself with supportive people, negotiating benefits in the workplace, and more Of all the advice shared during this session, my favorite would have to be: "Serendipity will dance with you if you ' re already on the dance floor." I interpret this advice as expressing the importance of "putting myself out there" and taking advantage of all the amazing opportunities I've been offered at Pitt and through SWE I plan to do just that as I finish my first year of engineering.