Evening with the Industries: An Event Brought to Students by SWE

EWI volunteers helping to sign in companies and students. Photo / SWE at VT

EWI, what is it?

Evening with the Industries is an event planned by the EWI chair from SWE.

Lane Stadium Venue. Photo / Adeline Ghosh

The purpose of the event is to introduce students to companies in a more intimate setting before the

CAMEO career fair. This year, the venue was the Lane Stadium Club, which provided the perfect place for students to meet company representatives in a location that makes them comfortable! EWI is especially useful for students who have not attended a career fair before, since it gives them the opportunity to network more casually, rather than having a lot of pressure on an elevator speech. Companies also appreciate having time to get to know students on a personal level before getting down to business at CAMEO.

Introducing the EWI Chair:

Megan Gulian, a sophomore in Biomedical Engineering, was the student behind the whole event! She worked from Fall of 2021, all the way up, until the late February event date. Gulian planned elements like hors d’oeuvres (with associated catering), decorations, and gathered companies to participate. She worked on budgeting with the SWE sponsor and treasurer to ensure that the event would have everything that she thought was necessary. For a venue, she ended up choosing the Lane Stadium Club.

This venue was great for students since it provided a comforting place in the stadium they know and love.

Students talking with Dewberry. Photo / SWE at VT

The Day of the Event:

The venue was not available until about an hour before the event started. Luckily, SWE officers were happy to jump in and help with tasks like decorations, set-up, student and company check-in, and final clean up. Meanwhile, Gulian focused on making sure that final details were done, for example, setting up company name tags and student maps, and personally working with caterers and company representatives to make sure the event went smoothly.

EWI Event. Photo / SWE at VT

Students appreciated the event since it gave them an opportunity to get to know company representatives on a more personal level. They were able to speak

with representatives without having to prepare an elevator speech and could really take a genuine shot at networking.

In terms of company turnout, there were a total of 19 companies that attended. Some of which included Boeing, Dewberry, Collins Aerospace, General Motors, etc. Each company brought a number of representatives which allowed for a more even representative to student ratio.

Students talking with GM. Photo / SWE at VT

Conclusions:

Overall, the Evening with the Industries is a great opportunity for students who would like to network and get more comfortable before the Cameo Career Fair. It is open to all engineering students and includes a variety of companies from different backgrounds

to ensure that all students have representatives to visit at the event. For companies, it gives them an opportunity to get to know students more personally before recruiting them for intern or full-time positions. This can be helpful since the conversation is

less scripted and more free flowing due to the casual setting. EWI is an event that takes place every year in the early spring time, so be sure to look out for this event next year!