FEMALE SOLDIERS FORGE THE FUTURE FOR WOMEN IN STEM
This year, the U.S. Army’s partnership with the Society of Women Engineers (SWE) allowed three female Soldiers to share their unique stories of advancement and pioneering roles with female high school students, college students and young professionals from around the country.
From Oct. 18-20, attendees of the SWE national conference – all in various stages of their engineering careers – gathered in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to learn about career opportunities available in engineering fields. During the conference, they heard from Major General Miyako Schanely, Colonel Michelle Link, and First Lieutenant Katherine Branham.
As the first female engineer in the Army to achieve the rank of major general (two stars), Miyako Schanely shared her experiences and life lessons for career success – as an engineer, as a leader and as a pioneer in her field. Her lessons spanned a range of topics, from leadership to life balance and from emotional intelligence to resilience. Major General Schanely’s perspectives, passion and candor the audience, encouraging them to reach their full potential and courageously change the world around them for the better.
During her session, First Lieutenant Branham talked about balancing her two careers – in her civilian job, she is an aerospace engineer for the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) at Kennedy Space Center, and she also serves as a combat engineer for the U.S. Army Reserve. First Lieutenant Branham shared how her military training equips her to navigate difficult leadership situations in her civilian career. She also highlighted some of her unique military engineering experiences, including international peacekeeping missions.
Colonel Link participated in a first-of-its-kind panel to answer questions from nearly 150 conference attendees about how the U.S. Army serves as an innovator in the public sector. Colonel Link shared how working in government is fundamentally different than work in other sectors. She also embodied a female success story in a historically male-dominated arena by sharing some of the challenges and opportunities she has faced as a female engineer working for the government. All of the testimonies of the Soldier speakers at SWE encouraged students and young professionals to challenge themselves to push beyond boundaries.
If you or your organization would like to learn more about how the U.S. Army supports both public education and military training opportunities for high school students and Soldiers alike, please coordinate a free visit from your local Army recruiters. You can find your local recruiter by following this link.
