Girls on Teams going to Engineering

[Liz Smith]

Well... I was on a FIRST team last year and now im in college, but I'll answer your questions anyway.

1) What made get involved in FIRST
Some of my guy friends told me it was a good time so I decided that I would try it out.

2) How long have you been involved in FIRST
I started my Junior year and was captain my senior year... I am still involved in volunteering this year. 3 total I guess. 2 years in high school.

3) What college(s) did you apply to/get accepted to
I got accepted to CMU, Syracuse, Lafayette, Rhode Island School of Design, RIT (with a FIRST scholarship), University of Rochester

4) Are you planning on going into the engineering field why or why not?
I am now studying Mechanical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon. It was a decision for me between Engineering at CMU and art at RISD and I decided to go with the engineering. FIRST definitely changed me and got me to see that I really could go into an Engineering field. I want to be in a field where I can help make things that people can use.

5) Also why do you think it's important for women to go into engineering, and maybe share some personal experience working alongside engineers?
I think its important for everyone to go in a field they enjoy and to tell other people how they got involved, so everyone ends up doing something they enjoy no matter what the statistics are say. Everyone should be assured that they can go into any career if they put a little effort in.