In late summer, incoming McCormick freshmen of underrepresented communities open their mailboxes to find words of congratulations and encouragement.
The annual letter-writing campaign is organized by the Northwestern chapters of the Society of Women Engineers, the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers and the National Society of Black Engineers.
Current McCormick students write the letters in the spring and Assistant Dean for Student Affairs Ellen Worsdall, the faculty advisor for SWE, SHPE and NSBE, mails out the letters to women, Hispanic and Black engineering students over the summer.
Worsdall said 38% of McCormick class of 2026 were women and over a third were from underrepresented communities. The goal of the letters is to build community, especially within underrepresented demographics in engineering, Worsdall said.
McCormick freshman and SWE Mentorship Director Kayla Youhanaie said she loved receiving her letter.
“(The letter) showed me that (SWE) is very active and they care a lot about their club members,” Youhanaie said. “I instantly got involved when I first got here.”
SWE hosted a letter-writing event in the Technological Institute on April 30 where colored paper and markers were provided.
“We write individual handwritten notes to every student,” Youhanaie said. “We like making them feel like somebody’s thinking about them.”
On Friday, SHPE also held a letter-writing event in the Ford Center, where they encouraged letter-writers to include introductions to SHPE and its values as an organization, give advice and make the recipient excited about coming to NU.
McCormick freshman and SHPE Mentorship Chair Gisela Martinez said she hopes to build relationships between mentors and mentees in SHPE during Fall Quarter. The letters are a first step, she said.
SHPE letter-writers are encouraged to leave their contact info on the letters, Martinez said, in hopes that this will begin to build mentorship relationships.
“I wish to give back to my community and become a mentor, even if it’s through a small thing such as a letter,” Martinez said.
NSBE will be holding a letter-writing event on Friday in Ford.
Prior to receiving her letter, McCormick freshmen Jocelyn Luevanos said she was nervous about going to an engineering school.
Luevanos later participated in both SWE and SHPE letter-writing events, because she remembered how the letters impacted her.
“It came to my house, and I was like, ‘Oh my gosh, I got a SWE letter,’” Luevanos said. “Even though you’ve already been accepted, you still don’t feel like you’re really part of the NU community. (The letter) gets you excited to go to college and helps ease some of that anxiety.”
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