Outreach and Volunteering

Outreach is an essential part of our organization. We strive to build a relationship with our surrounding community to foster and promote education within the STEM fields. Our goal is to introduce the concept of engineering and the design process to young students in order to help them build engineering skills from a young age. We hope to inspire more young people to choose a STEM career and share with them how much fun engineering can be!

Our chapter participates in local STEM promotional events, such as the Philadelphia Science Festival, and we host our own events on campus for local high school and middle school students. Our chapter also participates in local community service events like Philly Spring Clean-Up Day.

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Franklin Institute Science After Hours

The Franklin Institute holds themed monthly nights targeted for adults to experience various science experiments and demonstrations. Drexel SWE Outreach has volunteered at many of these nights, teaching about anything from lock picking to surface tension and interference. 

SWE Wow! Innovation Challenge Submissions

The Wow! Innovation Challenge recognizes the innovative outreach techniques being used by SWE sections and MALs. Periodically, a section/MAL will be recognized for a unique, creative approach to a component of outreach. 

Wow! Innovation Challenge #4 - Volunteers are crucial to the success of outreach events. How does your section / MAL manage and attract volunteers for outreach events? How do you make the experience meaningful and worthwhile for volunteers, from the moment they are recruited until after the event is complete? Please draw on your experiences from past outreach events that can be duplicated by other sections or MALs, and feel free to include any other best practices pertaining to volunteer management.

Check out our winning submission here: 
https://snapguide.com/guides/recruit-volunteers-for-outreach-events/