By Justine Sanchez, March 3, 2026
A variety of women’s clubs on campus are bringing community together this semester with the goals of providing networking opportunities, academic support and learning new skills.
For clubs like the Society of Women Engineers, it’s all about providing a supportive community that empowers women and allies in STEM. The goals of these clubs are to encourage growth opportunities among the members and support their future endeavors by providing hands-on experience in their respective fields.
“We are very welcoming to, not just women, but anyone who supports women in engineering because it is really important to have that allyship,” said civil engineering student and president of SWE Megan Paderanga. “There’s no point in fighting for equality for women in engineering if it’s only women fighting for ourselves. We have to have people who support us.”
As social chair of Software Engineering Associate and a computer science student, Danica Jacutin said CPP has been supportive toward women in engineering and STEM fields, as the school has provided a good platform to get the message out there.
“I cannot lie, a lot of my classes in computer science are typically male dominated, but I love to see my girls there, too,” Jacutin said. “There’s a handful of us, but that’s why I love to be here. I want to promote that women can be in STEM too and I think we should have a lot more representation.”
Only 26% of STEM jobs are held by women in the U.S., according to the U.S. Department of Labor. The STEM field has been historically male dominated due to past societal norms, cultural stereotypes and underrepresentation.
Women members of these STEM clubs have worked to challenge and promote a better future full of equality on campus.
“(Engineering) is such a huge discipline,” Paderanga said. “There’s so many specialties inside of it, and each specialty has their own issues in which women are not able to feel like they belong for whatever reasons, so I think the school has a really good amount of women in engineering related clubs.”
Outside of STEM-specific clubs, the Women in Business club is proof you can build your own community as well. It is the first of its kind on campus and is set to start hosting general meetings WHEN with goals of bringing in guest speakers to share their journey with studentsr.
“We wanted to differentiate ourselves by including women in business, but we wanted to extend it to engineering, math, any other major that wants to join, so that we could create an inclusive atmosphere for everyone,” said computer information systems student Siena Alarcon.
The Women in Electrical and Computer Engineering club is also set to plan monthly meetings and events that provide mentorship and advice from like-minded upperclassmen and alumni.
“I feel like there could be more representation and more of a variety of seeing women go out into the field,” said Jessica Surjadi, an electrical engineering student and president of WECE. “We want to be more accessible and opening by fostering a community of other women in the same boat that could support and mentor the students.”
With a handful of women centered clubs, students can find their own community and growth opportunities by visiting myBar for more information on the clubs and organizations CPP has to offer.
