The Texas A&M University student chapter of the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) earned the 2020 Adair Affiliated Student Organization of the Year, in recognition of their work and contribution to the university and community.
The Adair award honors one organization on campus annually that embodies the Aggie values, both in their mission and in the ability of their leadership to mentor and positively influence their members. President and biomedical engineer Gabby Adame said that her organization has constantly strived for improved growth within the organization’s programs and their membership.
“While SWE is one of the largest engineering organizations on campus, we want to have a bigger impact beyond that,” Adame said.
In aiming for this, the organization has held outreach programs, professional development events, hosted diversity career fairs and held leadership retreats. This year, Adame decided to establish a new officer position dedicated to helping freshmen through the Entry-To-A-Major process and their freshman mini-conference.
“Throughout this year, my main focus has been to develop our officer team to become better leaders and better people,” Adame said. “While this is a hard task, I believe that it is our duty to ensure that our leadership team becomes even better than they were before.”
Vice president and chemical engineering student Gabi Hernandez said that their main focus in helping SWE stand out was to try new things and take risks on events that may or may not be successful.
“I was absolutely ecstatic when I heard that SWE won the Adair award,” Hernandez said. “I am so proud of everyone on the executive team, the officer team, and all of our members who give so much to SWE so the organization can positively impact students inside and outside of SWE.”
Starting next fall, Hernandez will assume the role of president and hopes to emphasize development for the members professionally, academically and personally to prepare them for leading with integrity in their journey through college and into their career. To do this, she wants to establish a leadership development program for upperclassmen to help them transition into the professional world.
“I remember joining as a freshman three years ago and thinking that the organization was already so large that I could not even imagine much more growth,” Hernandez said. “Since then, SWE’s membership and various programs have grown a lot, the largest being our outreach programs.”
Adame knows that every organization has its strengths and weaknesses and she is incredibly proud to have been a part of the last four years. Her organization has made a lot of changes within the past year alone and said that her members should each feel great joy in knowing that they were able to innovate their positions and create outstanding programs.
“I think it was perfect timing for our organization and while I had a distinct vision for where I wanted the year to go, it was great to see how everyone interpreted my hope for a better organization into their programs,” Adame said.
Interested in joining SWE? Visit the SWE website for more information. You can also send an email to membership@swetamu.org to get on their listserv or ask questions.