Hi everyone! This weekend I am in Salt Lake City, UT, for the Society of Women Engineers Region B Conference! While I have attended the past two Society national conferences, this is my first regional conference. I’ve had a great couple of days meeting fellow SWEsters from across the Southwest and bonding with more of the girls from SWE USC. I left LA on Friday, attended the conference Friday and Saturday, and will be going skiing today!
Bye LA! http://t.co/5C2IjaeGDE
— Natalie Alvarez (@natralvarez) March 1, 2013
Made it to Salt Lake City! #itscold #somuchsnow pic.twitter.com/IAmqSiJJSU
— Natalie Alvarez (@natralvarez) March 1, 2013
Friday was mainly tours around the city and a general mixer at night. Since I arrived in the early afternoon, I took the day to do homework, sleep, and explore the city until the rest of the USC group arrived. Saturday morning we were up at 7 a.m. (6 a.m. in LA – so early!) to start the second day of the conference off with breakfast and a keynote speaker, who taught us to never let our fears get in the way of our success.
SWE regional conference in Salt Lake City! #SWE #ViterbiOrgs #ViterbiPlus http://t.co/pjMMAjxa6p
— Natalie Alvarez (@natralvarez) March 2, 2013
We spent the rest of the morning attending workshops like “Landing your Dream Job” with a representative from Disney. We then had a break for lunch, followed by an afternoon of more sessions, including “Highlights of the Curiosity Rover on Mars” with a representative from JPL, and “What I wish I knew then” panel, and “STEM Outreach: Best practices”. At the same time there was a career fair where we had the chance to network with company representatives. After this was dinner, where awards were presented to different sections from the region.
Today I’m really excited we are going skiing with my friends Caitlin and Emily and Ashlyn! It’s supposed to snow a bit and it’s around 40 degrees, so we’ll see how well this goes. But I’ve had a great weekend at the conference! We had a lot of younger girls who are Ambassadors for SWE USC join us, instead of officer council and executive board. It’s been a great learning and bonding experience for all of us.