Student ProjectsSociety of Women Engineer's 50th Anniversary
Project Manager
Kayla Youhanaie, SWE
Amount Requested
$5,000
Summary
As 2026 marks NU SWE’s 50th anniversary, this anniversary reunion event will allow us to launch NU SWE’s new alumni relations initiative while also offering students and alumni engaging opportunities to connect and grow professionally.
This event intends to kick off NU SWE’s new alumni initiative by bringing alumni together, celebrating the impact NU SWE has had on our alumni, and introducing alumni and current students to upcoming opportunities through our new alumni initiative. Additionally, this event intends to reunite SWE alumni and spark a sense of community among SWE alumni that NU SWE has previously lacked. Moreover, this anniversary event will provide both alumni and current undergraduate students with professional development opportunities through skill-building workshops, networking, and speeches from alumni sharing career insights as women in STEM.
To achieve the desired intent of this event, we will host a weekend-long event for NU SWE alumni and current undergraduate members filled with meaningful opportunities. We will facilitate networking for both alumni and undergraduates. We will also host professional development workshops designed to benefit both alumni and students and centered around topics specific to being women in STEM fields. Additionally, alumni and undergraduates will have the opportunity to spend quality time together and build personal connections over shared breakfast and lunch. Attendees will also have a chance to reminisce together over NU SWE’s rich history as well as learn valuable insights and advice from alumni keynote speakers.
This 50th anniversary reunion event will produce several meaningful results that will have lasting benefits for NU SWE members and alumni. For one, this event will foster a sense of community for both SWE alumni and students that will be carried forward in the future and maintained by current students after they graduate. This event will also produce lasting networking connections for both alumni and students. It will also serve as the perfect opportunity to share information about NU SWE’s upcoming alumni initiatives, which will manifest in upcoming events and opportunities throughout the rest of the year and beyond. More tangibly, this event will result in the start of NU SWE’s alumni directory book, which will allow alumni and students to stay connected over time. By strengthening alumni ties, we hope to also inspire future engagement and support, including donations that will fund even more impactful programming.
Finally, our event provides significant value to the undergraduate experience of current SWE members by allowing them to make lasting connections with alumni that may lead to mentorship relationships or internship and job opportunities. Additionally, undergraduate students will gain valuable professional skills through workshops and receive meaningful professional advice from speakers or conversations with alumni over shared career interests. Undergraduate students will also have a chance to join our growing alumni network through the NU SWE directory, helping them stay connected well beyond graduation.
Planned Activities/Investments
Since the main objectives of SWE’s 50th anniversary are to celebrate the chapter’s history and members as well as connect alumni and current students, we will be hosting a conference-style celebration over one weekend (tentatively planned for early February 2026). The activities will cater to both alumni and students, including: keynote speaker, NU SWE’s history talk, networking social, early-career workshop, student research poster presentation, evening reception, and student performances. More specifically, the keynote speaker and history talk will both serve to highlight the past achievements of women engineers as part of SWE while reflecting on the progress NU SWE has made over the past 50 years. Networking and career workshops will be valuable for career development and forming meaningful connections between attendees. Finally, the student presentations and performances will celebrate the current undergraduate population and showcase to alumni what NU SWE members are accomplishing in their undergraduate careers today. NU SWE has already begun coordinating with the NAA to send invitations in the fall quarter and gather alumni support, and we are actively making progress to contact guest speakers/ workshop presenters.
A weekend-long event will be ideal for producing the desired outcomes, because it allows students and alumni to have prolonged interaction– some alumni attendees will likely be joining from outside the Chicagoland area, making it worthwhile to host a multiple-day event. The series of activities, workshops, and social opportunities will each be designed to benefit audiences in all stages of their careers. Seeing as the event is also a reflection on SWE’s history at Northwestern, we would like to host the main event on campus (at the Norris Center) to allow alumni to look back on their student experience in person. Lastly, SWE also hopes to build stronger engineering alumni connections, benefiting the greater McCormick community long term.
Impact
The Northwestern SWE 50th anniversary reunion event will have a lasting impact on both current undergraduate Northwestern students, SWE alumni, and our SWE Chapter. By giving current students multiple opportunities to network with alumni, they will be able to build community, get helpful career guidance, and be inspired by the impactful work done by our accomplished SWE alumni. NU SWE alumni will also benefit from this event as it will give them an opportunity to attend career development workshops focusing on different career stages, network with other alumni, and reconnect with their alma mater. This event will also have a long-term impact on the advancement of the Northwestern SWE organization, as it will give us an opportunity to start more programs to connect current students and alumni through the creation of an alumni directory, as well as provide an opportunity for alumni to contribute to supporting NU SWE’s initiatives.
We will evaluate this impact by gaining feedback from both the alumni and current students who attended the event to learn about how this event has given them opportunities to connect with each other, advance their professional development, and gain mentorship opportunities. Throughout the reunion, we will also track attendance and engagement at different workshops to evaluate what attendees found most helpful and had the most impact. We will also evaluate this event’s long-term impact by assessing how a new SWE alumni directory allows us to create more opportunities and events for NU SWE members, such as career panels, speakers, and networking sessions. We will also track the donations received through the reunion to evaluate how this event will help fund SWE events and initiatives.
Deliverables
The main deliverable for this project is the Northwestern SWE 50th anniversary reunion, which will be a weekend of multiple events and opportunities for alumni and current students to connect and learn from each other. The other main deliverable is the alumni directory that will be created through the event, which allows us to initiate further opportunities to connect with and strengthen our alumni network.
Budget Overview
Catering ($3,000) - Assuming we cater from one of Northwestern’s recommended caterers, such as Amazing Edibles, for a reception and lunch, the cost per person will be around $100-150. Estimating 200 guests, the total amounts to roughly $3000.
Decor (banner, photobooth materials, SWE swag, etc.) ($1000) - Each guest will receive one merch item. Additionally, this line includes other custom decorative materials for the event.
Venue ($1,000) - We are planning to host the main event in Norris and the reception at the Guild Lounge. Both venues will require a rental fee, which we are including in our budget.
Total Budget Amount: $5,000
Faculty Adviser/Department
Ellen Worsdall/McCormick School of Engineering