Britney Thompson, SWE President

Britney Thompson is the 2007/2008 president of the Society of Women Engineers at UK.   She writes about her experiences at UK;  Britney had a summer position with Progeny

"One of the most intimidating things I faced my freshman year was to see the ratio of men to women in my mechanical engineering classes. Sometimes there were only two or three other ladies in a class of 40 or 50 students, and that would make me feel at a disadvantage from the start. When I found SWE, the Society of Women Engineers, it allowed me to make connections with dozens of other young women, faculty, and staff, whether they were in my branch of engineering or not. As a group, we can support and encourage one another throughout our time at UK , as well as help to recruit other women into engineering. SWE also gives us opportunities to get involved with the community and opens up many awesome doors for future careers. SWE truly helped me to find my place at UK . Now that I am the president, I am looking forward to helping other young women engineers find a home at the University of Kentucky . With a great team of officers and directors behind me, SWE will certainly have a wonderful year!

While at Southwestern High School, I was told that it is critical to take classes that will give you a leg up on your college education if you aspire to be an engineer. For example, calculus, chemistry, and physics helped to give me a solid foundation for the classes I take at UK . I found it was also important to have a good background in English, communication skills, and computers to be successful student at a school like Kentucky . With a combination of academic success in high school, good ACT scores and extracurricular activities, I was blessed to receive more than enough scholarships and grants to pay my way through college.

As a freshman engineering student, I quickly discovered that the horror stories I'd heard about college classes weren't true. I will admit that at first things were intimidating, but as time passed I learned that classes weren't impossible, they were just challenging. In a field like engineering, there is no substitute for hard work and dedication. When you start to receive those high exam grades, you will be very glad that you put in a strong effort. Whatever you set your mind to can be done!

While taking classes, it is sometimes hard to see how concepts that are being taught will apply to your future. When I started working for Progeny over the summer, it gave me a fresh perspective on the sorts of ideas I needed to grasp in school, and really showed me that the things I am learning at UK are very relevant. I also gained insight into the workings of a small business, how an engineer should act in the professional world, and the ways different people and professions work together to complete a project. Plus, it was much more appealing and enjoyable to apply my knowledge and skills and get paid, rather than just continuously take classes and do homework."

Progeny Systems Corporation is a privately-held high-tech small business specializing in electronic systems development for the United States Department of Defense (DoD), and other government and business organizations. Their newest facility is in Somerset, Kentucky .