Launch of Women in STEM Student Society Network

It was the last day of term for me on Wednesday, after I did a presentation for one of my courses, I had celebratory lunch and was then off to King's College to meet the legend that is, Jess Wade to celebrate the LAUNCH of a NEW Women in Science and Engineering Student Societies Network! #Awesomeness

So what's the Women in STEM Student Society Network?

Well, it was founded by Jess Wade, who is on the WISE Young Women's Board. It's a huge network for all those that are a part of Women in Science and Engineering student societies to share resources, experiences and just support each other! It's a great initiative and I just had to support Jess with this AMAZING project!

So the launch was held at King's College London which was the most picturesque university setting I have ever seen. Large chandeliers, Roman looking statues and wooden floors filled the stone buildings - it was just be-a-utiful!

Forgot to take a picture of all the chandeliers and statues but here's the room where the launch was held..

..pretty neat! #Artistic

But before the start of the launch I joined Jess for her session on how undergraduates can get involved with Outreach for the King's students. She told them how they could get involved at King's and with other schemes, where they could get resources from and she gave them general tips to help them on their way to becoming Outreach stars! She invited me along to share my experiences with Outreach, in particular my experience of setting up my own Science Club at my old school. The students that attended were so keen to get involved with Outreach and I was particularly impressed by the fact that one of the undergraduates set up a Robotics Club at his old school which entered the Big Bang Fair this month! #Awesomeness

Sharing my experiences of setting up a Science Club at my old school. #HopingToInspire

The clock struck 6pm and it was time to start heading over to where the launch was about to start. Jess and I made sure the room was ready for when our #WomenInSTEM visitors arrived.

Wine,

...beer, and nibbles.

Projector all set up

6:30pm: The guests were arriving! I saw a lot of familiar Imperial physics undergraduate faces which was so lovely. A few UCL #WomenInPhysics members who I had met at an Imperial event were also there and it felt like a huge reunion. As soon as they walked in they immediately began chatting and it was so lovely to see all the #WomenInSTEM supporting each other - it was an irreplaceable feeling. #Awesomeness 

Whilst we were chattering away, a lovely first year undergraduate from King's spoke to me about her ambitions of becoming a medical physicist. It was like talking to a younger version of me - we were both passionate about medical physics! I told her about my experiences of shadowing medical physicists and she had already secured a shadowing experience so I told her to go for it! I love events like these where everyone can help each other in positive ways - such an incredible feeling! :)

The chit-chatter could be heard all the way down the corridor! #EpicWomenInSTEM #Networking

A range of #WomenInSTEM attended from a variety of universities (King's, Imperial, UCL, Queen Mary's)

7:00pm: Pizza arrived! And of course this just meant that the lovely #WomenInSTEM were all charged up for more conversations! It was great - they all inspired each other. It honestly made me want to say Awwwwww... this is so cute! (Jess would probably be a millionaire if she got a pound for every time I said that that evening ;)

Mmmmm... Tasty

Once our stomachs were filled with scrumptious pizza, Jess, kicked off the launch with an introduction to the Network how the #WomenInSTEM could benefit from it and how they could get involved. More info about the Network can be found on the website here. Also, check out Jess' blog post about the event here.

Jess doing her thang #Inspiration

And our special guest, the co-founder of the STEMettes, Jacquelyn Guderley, made an appearance too! She spoke about how we could all get involved with the STEMettes and the whole room of #WomenInSTEM were behind this idea and were eager to get involved! #ExcitingTimes

Jacquelyn talking all things the STEMettes

And in the words of Beyonce, Who run the world? Girls! #WomenInSTEM

And the launch came to an end but the conversations continued! Even when we were kicked out by the cleaner I saw all the #WomenInSTEM visitors talking to each other outside even though it was coming towards 9:30pm! I cannot be more proud of Jess - I think it's safe to say that the launch was a success!!

'I think we're onto something big'

- Jess Wade -

Are you a part of a WISE Student Society then why not get involved! Check out the WISE Student Network website here. Don't forget to like the Facebook page here. Thanks for your support and we hope to see all of you get involved! Together we can make a difference.