MARCH 2021
RESULTS OF OUR CLOTHING DRIVE, UPCOMING EVENTS, SPECIAL SPEAKER
|
|
YOUR SMITH COLLEGE CLUB NEEDS YOU |
|
Looking for a way to network and contribute on a short-term basis? |
|
The Board is seeking a few volunteers for a subcommittee to recruit new Board members. You’d be making phone calls and attending online meetings, May to mid-August. This is a great chance to get to know other Smithies without a long-term commitment. Interested alums should contact club president Alix Davie at alixdavie@gmail.com.
|
|
|
Thursday, April 1; recurs on April 15 and 29
5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Networking, Resume Assistance, and Happy Hour
|
|
This is a recurring opportunity for local Smith Alums to gather, network, get assistance on resume writing, and have a cocktail. These online gatherings are led by Donna Dong ‘13.
|
|
Thursday, April 15, recurs on April 29
5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Networking, Resume Assistance, and Happy Hour
|
|
Saturday, April 17
2:00 PM - 3:15 PM
Online Board Game Social
|
|
Come one, come all, to play some (online) board games and relax with your fellow Smithies. All levels of time commitment and game complexity are welcome! Drop in and Donna Dong ‘13 will facilitate and teach you to play a game or three!
IMPORTANT: It would help if you can pre-register at boardgamearena.com ahead of time, and reply to the evite (or email us) with your boardgamearena username so we can set up the games ahead of time!
|
|
Wednesday, April 21
7:00 PM - 8:30 PM
Peninsula Book Club
|
|
Thursday, April 22
7:00 PM - 8:15 PM
Special Speaker: Lisa Blanchard of The Grateful Garment Project
|
|
Please join us online to hear from Lisa Blanchard, Executive Director & Founder of The Grateful Garment Project. The Grateful Garment Project (TGGP) provides victims of sexual violence the clothing and other resources they need to reclaim their dignity and begin the healing process. The group works with hospitals, shelters, law enforcement and other nonprofits to meet victims’ immediate needs after a crisis, and support their ongoing needs along their road to recovery.
Ms. Blanchard will present to our club the founding of TGGP, its growth and evolution, and virtual volunteer opportunities that are short-term and highly impactful. This event is open to all, and can be joined via Zoom at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89620312314. Members will receive a proactive Evite.
In March the Smith College Club of the Peninsula successfully collected over 100 items in our clothing drive for TGGP. Read more about our efforts in this newsletter under Previous Events.
-
Members will receive an Evite. (become a member)
-
Non-members are welcome.
-
Zoom link: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89620312314
|
|
Thursday, April 29
5:30 PM - 6:30 PM
Networking, Resume Assistance, and Happy Hour
|
|
STAY APPRISED OF MORE UPCOMING EVENTS |
|
Follow us on social media to stay up to date on our [currently virtual] gatherings.
|
|
|
Wow. There's a lot going on with the club this Spring, and we're awfully glad you're here. Check out what we accomplished in March: |
|
March 1 - 31
An Incredibly Successful Clothing Drive for The Grateful Garment Project
As a club, we were able to donate over 450 items of clothing, plus toiletries, books, food, and comfort items to The Grateful Garment Project (TGGP), far exceeding expectations. Your participation and generosity was overwhelming.
|
|
TGGP founder Lisa Blanchard has asked to come speak to our group about the project and present additional ways we can make an impact though virtual, short-term opportunities. We have planned for Ms. Blanchard to present to the club via Zoom on April 22 at 7PM. This presentation will be open to anyone interested at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89620312314.
|
|
We received dozens of packages during the clothing drive! After spending a few hours sorting, counting and repacking organized boxes, we delivered a literal truck-load of items to the Grateful Garment Project facility. |
|
March 11
Board Games Online
A small but mighty group showed up to try our hands at board games in a virtual setting. Donna Dong '13 was true to her word: no experience necessary, and any time commitment restrictions were easily met. Donna was a excellent coach, and led us through four different games, all of which were new to us: Lucky Numbers, Can't Stop, Incan Gold, and Tranquility. It was so fun that we're going to try again on April 17 at 2:00 PM. You can join the fun at https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82043984902?pwd=dGFQKzdRejJQNDZLRjZ3eVBmcDFpQT09.
|
|
March 18
Resume Assistance, Networking, and Happy Hour
This is a recurring event, hosted by Donna Dong '13. The gathering on March 18 centered mainly on academic positions, including professorships around the Bay Area. Next month we will discuss cover letters and anything else that comes up. We plan to gather on April 1, 15 and 29 at 5:30 PM. This opportunity is open to any Smithies in the Peninsula Bay Area. The recurring Zoom link is https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86115648148?pwd=eitCdCtPZFRXS0dpR1hxcHcxK2Fwdz09.
|
|
|
|
The book club meets at 7:00 p.m., generally on the third Wednesday of each month.
|
|
WEDNESDAY, MARCH 17: The Dry by Jane Harper
A bumper crop of Smithies—thirteen—Zoomed together on Wednesday, March 17th to discuss “The Dry” by Jane Harper. We all enjoyed this Australian murder mystery with its evocative scene-setting and well imagined central characters, although we weren’t entirely happy with the author’s choice of interpolated back-flashes to illuminate the mysteries of the past. We talked about the pros and cons of small towns and the desperation of this little community suffering under extended drought and heat. Most of us plan to read more of Harper.
UPCOMING IN 2021
April 21: The Song of Hiawatha by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow
May 19: The Invention of Wings by Sue Monk Kidd
|
|
Campus News: HAVE YOU SEEN THE NEW NEILSON? |
|
The renovation of Neilson Library is complete, with the opening scheduled for March 29, 2021. Architect and sculptor Maya Lin’s redesign, incorporating the 1909 façade, re-imagines the building as “an intellectual commons.”
Click below to watch a video tour of the dazzling new complex.
|
|
More Campus News: SMITH & FULBRIGHT SCHOLARS, A ROBUST HISTORY |
|
On March 11th the U.S. Department of State released the names of scholars who were selected for Fulbright Scholarships, and once again Smith College is in the top 10 Fulbright-producing institutions.
Smith's Fulbright U.S. Student Program has been the strongest college program in the country for the past 18 years. Smith frequently produces as many fellows as leading research universities with far greater student populations and up to triple the number of applicants. (references: 1, 2, 3)
This can, in part, be attributed to the College's Fulbright Fast Track, developed with the singular goal of connecting faculty and staff with students and helping them design their proposals. Students can choose a host country, an English teaching assistantship or research project, and plan curriculum and study-abroad projects with guidance from faculty and staff.
This year’s top 10 Fulbright-producing institutions that award bachelor’s degrees are Bowdoin College (24 scholars), Smith College (16), Middlebury College (15), Oberlin College (14), Amherst College (13), Davidson College (13), Franklin and Marshall College (11), Macalester College (11), Williams College (11) and Bates College (10). Read the full article at VOA news »
|
|
|
|
SMITHIE SPOTLIGHT
This month our member spotlight falls on Erika Rodriguez class of '06! Erika currently works at Tesla as a Senior Engineer, and lives in San Jose with her husband and new baby daughter.
|
|
Graduation Year: 2006
House: Hubbard House
Major: Engineering
Fondest memories of Smith: I love the campus; it is just awesome. I have lots of fond memories, but Illumination Night was especially emotional. It was like, "I made it," and Illumination Night just summed it all up.
Getting to Smith: I grew up in Fresno and went to high school in the Bay Area where I was part of a Scholastic Silicon Valley program. Through that program we were prepped to study science and engineering starting in our sophomore year. The summer before my senior year I attended a mathematics program at Mount Holyoke for a month, and we got to tour around the other four colleges in the 5-College Consortium. I spent one hour at Smith and knew I wanted to apply. When the time came, I applied to UC Santa Cruz, UC Davis, Santa Clara University, and Smith.
Smith’s pedagogical approach to teaching engineering drew me in. Additionally, they offered me a 2-month immersive prep program prior to starting my first year, and they gave me the most financial aid.
Studying at Smith: I already had a definitive direction for my studies when I arrived at Smith – engineering. I took Senior Design and got to work with companies in the manufacturing industry, including working with Ford Motors to build a sustainable transportation kiosk. That was my first introduction to how academia can assist and progress real-world projects at large companies.
From a humanities perspective, I took a cinema class where we had to critique movies. I really enjoyed that, and it was so different from my other classes. And I took the opportunity to study abroad during my junior year at the University of Bristol in London.
Post-Smith: I graduated in 2006 and landed a job at Pratt & Whitey in East Hartford, CT where I worked as a design engineer, reverse-engineering aircraft engines. In 2007 I enrolled in graduate school at Syracuse University in New York where I obtained a master's degree and a PhD in mechanical and aerospace engineering, with a concentration in polymer science. In 2012 I moved back to California and took a postdoc position at NASA Ames in Mountain View.
While at NASA, over the course of four summers I was able to recruit about 40 Smith students to work as interns at NASA. Not just engineering students, but also students of the humanities, psychology, neuroscience – it was eye-opening for them to learn how their fields of study could be leveraged into different areas. Most of the interns took advantage of the PRAXIS program that pays currently-enrolled Smithies a stipend for unpaid internships, and lived in renovated barracks on the Ames Research Center Campus. I’m still in touch with many of these alums and I love to see the paths they’ve taken.
In 2018 I joined Tesla as a Senior Engineer. It’s exciting to be making products with a focus on sustainability. The deadlines are ambitious, and I’m using all the skills and fundamentals that I learned in grad school on a daily basis. I find it refreshing that there’s very little bureaucracy, and no paper pushing. I’m working with our recruiters here to try and recreate internship opportunities like I was able to do at NASA.
Additional good stuff: Outside of work I started a non-profit called Women College Tech where we engage and highlight women who are working towards, or have obtained, a STEM degree from any of the 37 women’s colleges in the US and are looking to develop their careers in tech. We encourage companies to work with us in recruiting female tech talent from all-women colleges. You can find more information about our efforts at www.facebook.com/WomenCollegeTech.
In my free time… I don’t have free time. My husband and I have a new baby! But when I had free time, I enjoyed dancing ballet, having studied since I was a child, and hiking.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
