So there was a reason that the principal scheduled us 2 hours to learn how to wrap sarees: 30 minutes of tea, 15-20 minutes to teach and wrap everyone, and the rest for SO MANY pictures. Prom round two but with more pictures! It was really cute because the women teachers we had been working with all camp were teaching us and were so excited to see us in their sarees that they wanted lots and lots of pictures of us and with us :D
Immediately following “dress-up” we changed into long clothing, hard hats and glasses for a factory tour of Walchandnagar Industries. #SWElookLikeAnEngineer The main thing we saw was the defense division of the plant floor. I was impressed with the shear size of machinery and equipment that this plant produces and the extreme accuracy in which they must make all the components.
Following our factory tour we were able to meet with 5 female engineers at Walchandnager Industries. This was an interesting opportunity for us to hear about women in STEM (mostly engineering) and learn how women engineers are perceived today in India. The most common engineering disciplines for women engineers today in India is actually computer science/IT; while one of the least common is Mechanical Engineering. This contrasts greatly with the situation in the states because we have a very low percentage of women in CS and a moderate amount of women in ME. Today many women have their careers chosen or at least heavily encouraged by their parents and IT is pushed because math skills are no longer a deterrent, IT is a secure job, and you don’t have to be hands-on or on a shop floor at all you can be “safely at a desk in an office.”
After our meeting at Walchandnagar we had our closing ceremony at BCA with the teachers and students. It was wonderful to hear and share what we’ve learned from one-another through this week of interactions. Gifts were exchanged between SWE at the University of Michigan and BCA and pictures followed the conclusion of our ceremony. P.s. the BCA Principal even included a SWE pun in his speech—> s’WE can do it!!
We finished the evening with a car tour of the Walchandnagar township and a short walk in the evening. On our walk we actually ran into the boys of Standard 10 (like grade 10) and they had another parting gift for us from their class. It was a welcoming statue that said “Friends 4 Ever from Standard 10 boys” on the bottom, so precious! Can’t wait to place it in the SWOffice :D
The saris look so awesome. I've heard it takes time to learn! But great job. It's cool that you got to meet some women engineers there, but great comparison between engineering there and in the US.
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