Engineers Empower Girls to Pursue Engineering

When you’re an engineer, it’s all you. You can pretty much make anything,” said Erica, an eighth-grader at Haskell Middle School.

During National Engineers Week, girls from four different middle schools got a taste of what it would be like to pursue an engineering career at “Introduce a Girl to Engineering Day” at Gahr High School, the host of the event.

Erica, who loves to design and build things, participated in the event’s activities like the egg drop, in which she and her team successfully created a device that can keep a raw egg intact when dropped from the air.

She also enjoyed hearing the panel speakers share stories of their experiences as engineers.

“For me, being an electrical engineer working at a power company is fantastic because I get to make sure people’s lights stay on,” said Lindsey Sayers, Southern California Edison manager of engineering and one of the event’s speakers.

“There are really great opportunities in engineering to make our lives better, and I would really like to see more women in engineering,” she said, noting other SCE engineers participated in several student outreach events within SCE’s service area throughout the week.

SCE offers 12-week summer internships in engineering, business, finance, accounting, IT, data science, cybersecurity, communications, customer service and other disciplines for college students. Students interested in engineering have the opportunity to gain hands-on experience and professional insights into a career at SCE.

Tricia Joyner, an SCE Talent Acquisition manager, encourages students to start preparing early.

“Understand who we are and see how your skills match what we do,” she said. “Start to look at coursework that aligns with the industry and what SCE is doing, especially as we work toward a clean energy future.”

While only 13, Erica is well on her way to paving her career path in engineering.

“I learned that engineering requires a lot of math, so I’m going to work hard on math,” she said.

To apply for SCE’s 2019 summer internship program before the mid-March deadline, or for more information about SCE careers, visit edisoncareers.com.