¡Bienvenidos! Welcome!
Greetings from our chapter! We are proud to introduce to you to the Missouri S&T SHPE Chapter’s first issue of our newsletter! Inside, you will find articles about last year’s events that reached out to students on campus and beyond including Latin Dance Nights, ¡Sί Se Puede!, our chapter’s success at the National Convention, and our End-of-the-Year Banquet. We hope this newsletter will allow our chapter to further engage with our community and continue to grow and strengthen our network of success and support.
Fall Semester 2022
Between Hispanic Heritage Month, Nationals, and ¡Sί Se Puede!, there was never a dull moment during the Fall semester. Here’s a recap of the excitement.
Hispanic Heritage Month
Hispanic Heritage Month is an annual celebration of the culture of the Hispanic community in the United States. This year, SHPE brought the celebration to campus by hosting various events, including a kickoff event at the Student Diversity Initiatives House garnering roughly 100 attendees in a joint effort with S&T’s own NSBE and AAA chapters. The fun continued with a game night featuring “SHPE Family Feud”, and a taco fundraiser. We concluded the month with the ever-popular Latin Dance Night open to all campus where we learned the traditional dance styles of Bachata and Merengue, taught by a professional instructor.
¡Sί Se Puede!
¡Sί Se Puede! is an annual weekend stay organized and manned by our chapter with the help of S&T’s Student Diversity Initiatives and student volunteers. This program is designed to give prospective engineers an opportunity to delve into S&T, SHPE, and all the wonderful opportunities open to them in their pursuit of higher education. This year, ¡Sί Se Puede! attracted high school students from across the United States, from St. Louis to California, students came and explored all that S&T has to offer! During their stay, students became familiar with our campus, bunking and dining in Thomas Jefferson Hall, and went on tours in their respective departments. Current SHPE members volunteered in aspects ranging from participating in a student panel designed to answer any and all questions, to pulling an all nighter after a day of fun activities such as a glass blowing workshop, pouring aluminum casts in our foundry, and a tour of S&T’s Experimental Mine.
Nationals in Charlotte!
As is tradition with our chapter, we are breaking records yet again! Twenty-five students from the Missouri University of Science and Technology’s SHPE Chapter travelled to Charlotte, North Carolina this past November for the annual SHPE National Convention. During their stay, students had the opportunity to attend presentations and workshops relevant to the industries that excite them, compete in competitions, network with companies and other students, and take advantage of a Career Fair with over 170 companies! This record-breaking presence of S&T in Charlotte was made possible by our sponsors, proudly displayed in our sponsor column! Overall, the SHPE National Convention was an amazing opportunity in this race towards the future!
Student Testimonial
Senior Julian Ortiz shared a little bit about his experience at the national convention this fall with us. He said, “Attending the SHPE 2022 National Convention in Charlotte was the most pivotal moment for my professional career. It allowed me the opportunity to network with top employers in the nation, attend skills workshops, and listen to speakers with an incredible amount of knowledge. There were countless events to attend, and the career fair was where I leveraged the most of this opportunity. “
“Going into the convention I largely had my heart set on a company I met during the S&T career fair; it was local, and, in the field, I see myself in the future. However, I came into this opportunity with an open mind and an open heart and came out with an even greater experience for the summer that would take me to Seattle, Washington at Boeing’s headquarters. I talked to multiple large companies at both the S&T and SHPE career fair, but I can say it was through the SHPE career fair where I was able to advocate for myself and feel heard. There is a sense of community that can be felt at the SHPE convention that you can find nowhere else.”
MentorSHPE
Our SHPE chapter prides itself in providing its members a wide array of opportunities and resources to get a leg up on their competition, one notable program is MentorSHPE. Last semester seven students from the Missouri S&T SHPE Chapter joined the MentorSHPE program. MentorSHPE fosters professional and personal growth by pairing students with a mentor from a SHPE professional chapter who is established in their respective field of interest. Throughout the semester, mentees met, and many still regularly meet, with their mentors to discuss different topics such as setting and enacting SMART career goals, building a network, and planning one’s future. Whether it be developing a professional resume, working on an elevator pitch, or even setting goals for the new year, MentorSHPE allows mentors to help students navigate their journey in becoming a professional engineer!
Spring Semester 2023
The Missouri S&T SHPE Chapter had big plans in store for the Spring 2023 Semester as we continued to grow and strengthen our Familia here on campus and beyond.
Monthly Chapter Outings
This Spring semester, we brought our general members together with monthly outings! From shredding fresh powder on the ski slopes to puzzling through escape rooms, our chapter did it all! We are tentatively planning to meet up with neighboring university’s SHPE chapters in upcoming semesters, growing our relationship with our no-so-distant Familia.
Latin Dance Night
SHPE joined forces with Missouri S&T’s National Society of Black Engineers, Asian American Association, Society of Women Engineers, Student Diversity Initiatives, and Aerial Swing Dance Club to bring Latin Dance Night back to campus this semester bigger than ever before. We took over Havener with “Una Noche en Havana,” where attendees were immersed in the tradition and culture tied to the evening’s dance styles: Salsa and Merengue.
ScholarSHPE
This year, our chapter was excited to introduce a new program called “scholarSHPE” designed to give back to our active members. Members applied for “scholarSHPEs,” each for the amount of $500: Familia ScholarSHPE, Esperanza ScholarSHPE, and Creativity ScholarSHPE. Winners were announced at our annual end-of-the-year banquet on April 21st. Looking into the future, we hope this scholarship helps our members in their pursuit of reaching their fullest potential.
checks and plaques at our End-of-the-Year banquet.
End-of-the-Year Banquet
To commemorate a year of hard work, our chapter hosted our second-annual End-of-the-Year Banquet, themed “A Tour of Latin America”, on April 21st at the Hasselmann Alumni House. Chancellor Dehghani made a guest appearance and commenced the event with a short speech. After our current executive board introduced next year’s board, we enjoyed a delicious Latin American inspired dinner. Members who impacted our chapter this year with their talents and personalities were recognized with superlatives awards, and throughout the night ScholarSHPE recipients were announced. We were privileged to listen to our chapter’s own alumni, Ryan Vasquez, present about his family’s lineage and his own story, as well as Professor Javier Valentin-Sivicio’s presentation on “Striving for Balance”. The night concluded with dancing, bringing an end to another successful and memorable year.
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Thank You for Supporting our Familia!
Thank you to all of our sponsors! Your generous support has funded the vision our chapter’s members have realized.
