Dallas SWE is pleased to recognize Sally Kammer as a Member of the Month for April 2019!  With our Member of the Month program, Dallas SWE seeks to recognize some of our non-officer members whose technical contributions, leadership accomplishments, or SWE volunteer service are particularly noteworthy.  If you would like to nominate a Dallas SWE member for his/her contributions, please email us at dallas.swe@gmail.com.

Sally earned her BS in Computer Science from Missouri Science and Technology, formerly University of Missouri at Rolla.  She currently works as a telecommunications virtualization designer at Verizon.  Sally joined SWE as a professional in 2013.  Sally has a passion for encouraging youth in STEM and to pursue their dreams by helping connect them with good experiences, support, and training.   Building on years of volunteering with the Collin County City House, Sally is expanding into greater outreach with the SWE STEM Outreach chair following several Verizon Innovative Learning program events since 2017.

Below is Sally’s story in her own words!

When I took on the Outreach Chair role I’d heard I’d get a lot of great support from our Dallas SWE community and I’ve now been amazed to see it in action in 2019.   Before jumping into Outreach, I’d enjoyed several SWE professional development events and dipped my toes into a few social events in SWE since joining a few years back.  I’m a bit more introverted; I have a drive, though, to help children and teens see better options (like STEM Careers) and have better support in their lives.  Taking this plunge with Outreach has let me see entirely new dimensions of strong, capable and caring women shining in Dallas and encouraging our next generations to dream and experiment and create.

I’ve loved most watching us help light a spark in kids of all ages at our Outreach events as we give them a challenge and watch them try it; encouraging them to plan their idea and work through building it.  Then they’ve got to guess how it will test and try it out.  For many their confidence momentarily wavers as something unexpected happens when they test it…and that’s when one of us helps with “it’s okay, what do you think happened, and what do you want to try differently next time?”

That’s the moment when, if they decide to try again, they think a little deeper.  The jump in determination and self confidence as they see themselves hopefully work through challenges and learn they can maybe do more than they thought.  That moment is priceless to me.  After I spent years playing it a little too safe to not lose my “she’s smart” label…I want to instead reward ideas and determination and effort in good directions in our future STEM solution builders.  This is the way I live now as I keep adding skills and tools in my own personal toolbox.

My favorite thing about SWE:  “I’ve been amazed at the many talented and dedicated women I’ve been lucky enough to volunteer with in Outreach events; especially seeing the myriad of ways we find to encourage kids to dig into STEM!”

Sally Kammer