Department of Physics at the U of I

Five men founded SHPE in the year of 1974 in Los Angeles, California. They were Engineers employed by the city on a mission to form a National organization that represented role models in the Hispanic Community. In 1974 the key concept was networking, but it has grown into so much more now with over two hundred student chapters and several professional chapters across the nation.

At the conference this year my objective was to go to as many workshops as possible that were geared to applications of an engineering degree after my undergraduate years. Workshops were in abundance and variety. Amongst all the choices my favorite was a panel of six Latina women who all worked for Boeing. It was a Boeing sponsored workshop where the women spoke of their life success stories and how they came to be as thriving as they are. It was the most moving and valuable experience I have encountered at Conference in the last two years. Their stories were so raw and honest that I am sure it touched the lives of everyone in that Conference room. Everyone in the room, including male and female students were truly intrigued and awed by these women’s perseverance and struggles. All of the six women came from neighborhoods where as young girls they were not likely to go to college or make anything of themselves. All six women, through the barriers of not having the funds or the support, made it through college successfully with high esteem! They are now confident, professional and motivating Engineers for Boeing.

 

 

A workshop sponsored by NAVSEA (Naval Sea Systems of Command) was another one of my favorites as well. They had you split into teams and rework a circuitry system for a submarine. It was really neat to see an actual layout of an applied task that an Engineer would have to accomplish in NAVSEA’s workforce! Workshops like these allowed for me to showcase my talents and network in preparation for the following day of the Career Fair. The Career Fair at the SHPE National Conference is like nothing I have ever seen. It is so vast and plentiful with the best companies out there. Every time I walk into it I have to take a step back and truly appreciate the opportunity.  The best way to describe it all is like a candy store for an Engineer!

 

The best days of the Conference are those that our chapter wears their polos. With the numbers we bring it is tradition to wear matching polos to identify us as UIUC students. Since we are from SHPE UIUC and we come from the U of I Engineering curriculum employers are consistently searching for our students. It has been at Conference where I have met and seen random recruiters for companies pull aside UIUC students to speak with us about genuine interest in internships and to see if the student is a good match for their company. Many times all of this leads to an interview. For the reason that employers are able to identify us through our polos on this special day we wear them, these surprising yet wonderful things tend to happen.

 

 

One of my favorite things of all time about Conference is the bonding and unity my SHPE Chapter goes through while there. My chapter and I have the opportunity of meeting the most remarkable SHPE alumni from UIUC. Not only do they offer us guidance and support, but it becomes so evident how remarkable and influential my society is to me. The alumni are the driving force behind the conference as to the opportunities and abilities I have attained by going to our National Conference every year. I have been lucky enough to find the finest family within SHPE UIUC and a platform for which they have given me to succeed in my undergraduate years here at U of I.