POTSDAM -- More than 30 local Girl Scouts filled Clarkson University’s Science Center recently for an annual activity night hosted by Clarkson’s section of the Society of Women Engineers.

The Girl Scouts enjoyed a pizza dinner, a presentation by Clarkson’s Mini Baja SAE Team, and a series of hands-on engineering activities.

Groups of girls rotated between classrooms taking part in various STEM activities led by SWE members and completed parts one and two of the new “Think Like an Engineer” Journey.

Activities included making molecules out of candy, binary code bracelets, and paper structures, and learning more general engineering information.

To conclude the evening, the Scouts gathered together in the lecture hall with all of the SWE volunteers where the culmination of their knowledge from the activities was applied to engineering and other concepts, such as the design process.

Clarkson SWE has continued to work with one of the local troops that attended – the local Potsdam Juniors Girl Scout troop – to complete their “Think Like an Engineer” Journey. SWE members have met with the troop to complete the last five parts of the journey, and the troop celebrated their accomplishments by visiting the Clarkson campus and touring the different laboratories and classrooms.

Clarkson SWE intends to continue working with local Girl Scout troops to work on other new STEM patches.

The annual activity night has been offering local scouts a look at STEM studies and careers for nearly 20 years.

In addition to their involvement with Girl Scouts, Clarkson’s SWE student chapter is reaching out to local schools to form a SWENext club, which will bring STEM-focused resources and activities to K-12 students in our area. Students and parents from Potsdam, Canton, Norwood-Norfolk, and Gouverneur attended an informational meeting. This club is open to all students in grades K-12. Email swe@clarkson.edu for information about how to get involved.

Clarkson’s SWE student chapter meets several times each month and hosts a variety of events that range from professional development to pure fun. Membership is open to undergraduate and graduate students, all majors and genders.