Nccwsl2017 - Blog Posts

Every time I Google my University of Minnesota Duluth initials, "UMD", results for University of Maryland appear. Since the leadership conference is held at U of Maryland, I get to meet the infamous university that plagues my peers' web browsers. My adventure began driving to Hibbing, Minnesota's Airport through the red painted ore hills of the Iron Range. Middle Precambrian treasures tempt to be excavated, awaiting America to be great again. Adorned with big game trophies Hibbing Airport's pace greatly differed from Minneapolis, Minnesota's metropolis of travel. Minneapolis has every reasonable pH of bottled water for sale, designated therapy dogs and indoor golf. Upon arrival in D.C. I scuffled to a shuttle, scooted around cities, and eventually meandered to the other UMD. I was welcomed by boxes of chocolate Luna Bars, a packed itenerary and a gaggle of gals ready to fine tune leadership. Tomorrow holds a trip to Capitol Hill to hear from a panel of D.C. professionals and the NCCWSL (National Conference for College Women Student Leaders pronounced "Nick Whistle").

Looking Forward to Leadership Conference NCCWSL

Following Memorial Day I will be traveling to DC for NCCWSL, National Conference for College Women Student Leaders, by AAUW (American Association of University Women). AAUW Duluth chapter has given me the awesome opportunity to meet students from around America, represent my engineering discipline and refine my leadership skills.

While Co-Oping at NASA I learned what categories of leadership they look for when hiring branch chiefs, flight directors and even center directors. NASA looks for individuals that can Lead Change, Lead People, are Results Driven, have Business Acumen, can Build Teams and have Discipline Competency. Our center director, Ellen Ochoa, has all of these leadership skills. A leader in a lower position may not have to have business acumen or have weaknesses in two of these categories. With leadership skills identified I have chosen what workshops I should attend...

I Get Knocked Down, but I Get Up Again: Persevering through Life’s Challenges

The Human Side of Collaboration

Be Better: Enhanced Speaking Skills for Women

...including keynote speakers and a trip downtown to learn about advocacy, politics, and policy making from a panel of women who work for senators and representatives on Capitol Hill. I am avoiding sessions that could be replaced by a TEDTalk and sessions presented by business folks that may be there simply to pitch their company - these are all disappointments I have experienced in past conferences.

I am half surprised and half not surprised about how politically charged some of these workshops and lectures are (NCCWSL is hosted in our nation's capitol after all and AAUW uses policy to advance equality). Many leaders in industry do not interface with politics on a daily basis so I hope there is enough relevant content that will truly challenge my understanding of leadership. I want brutal honesty on how I can improve and tools that I can use in industry. I will attend with an open mind.

When I visited the White House in 2013 for a tech related Champions of Change event I advocated for project based learning in schools - reducing standardize testing and implementing measurable projects mirroring challenges in "the real world". During this excursion my primary message will about continuing and growing Earth observation missions. For a final spring semester I wrote about how crucial Earth observation missions are to our environment, safety and economy. I will be sure to post an abridged version here soon. While Earth observation is my primary message I will be sure to also talk about the importance of the "A" in STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Arts, and Math), how trade schools are critical to American jobs and manufacturing and last project based learning again.

I will be live blogging during the conference so subscribe via email to get the latest blog posts and follow me on Twitter @KirsiCootie!

Attending a DC leadership conference in May! 

I will meet US college student leaders, participate in workshops & visit Capitol Hill. One of activity reads, "[Learn about]... advocacy, politics, and policy making from a panel of women who work for senators and representatives on Capitol Hill". Summer of 2013 I attended President Obama's Champions of Change White House event with NCWIT Aspirations in Computing sharing the importance of "project based learning" in schools. I talked with policy makers, company leaders and educators about how project based learning could be implemented and assessed. Additionally, I met Minnesota Senator Al Franken who since has visited FIRST robotics teams in my hometown & supported STEAM heavily. Again I want to have a focused message to share during my DC mission. I may keep the project based learning theme or pick a new one. I would love to hear your thoughts about what message I should share! Who knows who I'll run into!

I am so thankful AAUW Duluth MN awarded me with a scholarship making it possible to attend the AAUW's National Conference for College Women Student Leaders. Here is the agenda of the conference: https://www.nccwsl.org/about/agenda/

Watch for live blogging! Pictures are from my 2013 White House experience.