One of the first items on my bucket list is to build a real bucket list. I know I will die before doing all I want, so I let bucket list items float in my head rather than write them down. Besides, most of my jumbled inventory is built as I experience something spectacular and think, “That should have been on my bucket list. Check.”
This may not be how bucket lists work—by adding items after the fact—but since it’s my list, I get to build it however I want.
Last week, I simultaneously checked off and added being the keynote speaker at Idaho State’s 15th annual “Women in Work” conference. Each spring, Idaho State University’s Center for New Directions hosts over 225 girls in grades 9 through 12 from regional high schools, ISU students, and community members to learn about occupations in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM). Degrees and certifications in STEM can provide a livable income, employment benefits, and professional opportunities extending beyond a minimum wage job and into a successful career.
This conference showcases women in various STEM careers so attendees can learn about opportunities they might not know exist and envision themselves in a STEM career down the road. I have facilitated workshops that walk attendees through the semiconductor design process in years past, but it was at year 17 in my engineering career, that I was asked to keynote. I admit. I squealed when I got the call.
The point of my talk was to sell them on STEM, so I gave my best sales pitch. They didn’t know that I’m one of those engineers who has only recently been put in front of customers. They didn’t know that I can’t wait for a room to know that I’m an engineer because it can explain and excuse my social deficiencies in an instant. I’m hardly a salesperson, but it’s pretty easy for me to sell this career that’s been good to me.
I showed pictures of me in a pink tutu at age three, in my Girl Scout uniform at age seven, and with my trombone in high school. I showed myself in a bike helmet and an ISU t-shirt during my college volleyball years. I hoped the ballerinas, Girl Scouts, band members and athletes might see bits of themselves in any of the pictures and were able to further visualize attending college or embarking upon a STEM career.
My sales pitch was rich in the “Engineer” part of STEM because I’m an “E.” I gave them ON Semiconductor’s tag line; Energy Efficient Innovations, but this room full of high schoolers needed more than that, so I gave them a few more specifics.
ON Semiconductor engineers like me have built chips that are now in space helping scientists see. We have DSP technology in ears helping people hear. Our ICs improve the safety and efficiency of automobiles. Our products are paramount in computing and communication networks and without some of our devices, their cell phones might not work. (I had their attention with this.)
I talked about our environmental and safety engineers who’ve built procedures to keep employees safe and our company responsible. I talked about our package engineers who build the blueprints which house the silicon and metal dice I design. And I talked about our quality and reliability engineers whose relentless requests for statistics and design rule checks have helped lead ON Semiconductor to regularly be named a top supplier and partner by a number of our customers.
I talked about only a fragment of what engineers build and I extended it to professions outside of the semiconductor industry. Engineers build bridges, roller coasters, electronics, methodologies, prosthetics, networks… The list is infinite. (And yes, for the “Math” folks in STEM, “infinite” is debatable, but let’s do that another day.)
I was clear. I wanted the girls to open their eyes to the possibilities and promise of STEM. I did as good a job as any engineer-playing-salesperson could do, but I conceded that despite the presentations, hands-on activities, the amazing women they’d meet, and the encouragement they’d receive during their conference, they may choose a different path entirely. I begrudgingly let them know that’s okay, but I still hope they become women who build.
Women can build families. We can build medical practices. We can build generations of students in becoming teachers. Women can have a hand in building darn near anything.
Like we need our foundations, bridges and educations to be strong, our society needs strong women, too. We are half of the population—think of all that is built upon or from us. If we as women are going to build anything, we need to be willing and able to stand strong, to be firm, and to help build each other.
Tearing down happens all around us, but we don’t have to be a part of it. We can build. I encouraged every single girl in the audience, whether they consider a career in STEM or not, to become a woman who builds. It’s not always easy, but the beauty in building is that it can start any time. Whether it’s a bucket list, the next generation of STEM professionals, yourself or others, building can start now.
