Sextant Go Eng Girl Article, by Elisabet Astatkie
On November 23rd, 2024, the Dalhousie Women in Engineering Society hosted its annual Go Eng Girl event on Sexton Campus. The 2024 edition of the event was the largest hosted by the Society on record, with over 180 youth attendees, 80 engineering student volunteers, and a Go Eng Girl team made up of 16 executives. Students in grades 7 to 12 were welcomed from Digby to Antigonish to attend this year’s event.
The goal of Go Eng Girl is to create an impactful and inclusive environment that encourages young girls to pursue engineering. Throughout the day, participants are empowered to explore the diverse world of engineering through various sessions. The event's programming includes discipline talks from Dalhousie students, a tour of the Sexton campus, a design competition, networking with sponsoring companies, socializing with other student participants, and a session for parents to help prepare their children for university.
A change to this year’s Go Eng Girl involved more interactions with the engineering disciplines. Outside of the recurring programming, the campus tour included showcases related specifically to the mechanical, chemical, and electrical disciplines. In these sessions, students had the opportunities to make homemade soap and robotic toothbrushes, receive presentations from the Dal Solar Car team and heavy metals lab, and interact with a robot.
With four $1,500 entrance scholarships to Dalhousie’s Faculty of Engineering program on the line, the youth participants eagerly anticipated this year’s design competition. Judges from Dalhousie’s faculty, graduate program, and alumni were brought in to adjudicate the grade 10-12 bridge-making and grade 7-9 catapult-launching competitions. It was a tight competition for both age groups as they excitedly worked to the last minute to perfect their designs. Ultimately, the event showcased the incredible talent and creativity of the youth, leaving the judges thoroughly impressed with their innovative solutions and creative problem-solving.
The benefits of Go Eng Girl and its continued success are reiterated each year. Enrolment numbers of this year’s event were almost double that of last year. This event is significant due to the historic underrepresentation of women in both STEM and engineering fields. When examining the distribution in Canada, women make up less than 25% of STEM professionals. These metrics are even worse when considering the engineering disciplines; within this program, women comprise 23% of newly licensed engineers in Nova Scotia but only 13% of practicing engineers nationwide.
Engineers Canada has a 30 by 30 goal: for women to comprise 30% of newly registered engineers by 2030. From the Engineers Canada website, "30% is the tipping point for sustainable change", it will "help drive cultural change in the engineering profession". Events like Go Eng Girl are important to promote engineering to young and passionate girls as it makes the program more approachable and accessible. Several testimonies came from Go Eng Girl 2024, of youth participants who were so impacted by the event that they expressed their interest to executive members of wishing to enroll in engineering.
Participating in, volunteering, and supporting Go Eng Girl directly aids the Dalhousie Women in Engineering’s efforts to reduce gender disparity within the engineering program. From the late
Admiral Grace Hopper, a trailblazer in STEM contributions, “the most damaging phrase in the language is: it’s always been done that way”. This phrase signifies that even though engineering is a male dominated field, it does not mean that it has to stay that way.
The event would not be possible without the support of the various sponsors who provided financial, and on-demand support of Go Eng Girl 2024. If you want to check out more about Go Eng Girl or the Dalhousie Women in Engineering Society, please visit www.dalwie.com.