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Rezwana Sharmin

Rezwana Sharmin (EngSci 1T0 + PEY) has wanted to inspire young girls to pursue engineering since her very first year at U of T.

Sharmin got her first taste of it while working as an instructor’s assistant for the Faculty’s outreach program, Girls Science & Engineering Saturday. “The instructor was such an inspiration, to the girls, and to me. She made me and everyone else think, ‘Yes, I could do this.’”

Fast-forward to this year, and Sharmin has the opportunity to tell girls that, yes, they can do this too.

On October 1, engineering schools across Ontario hosted the event, which is organized in partnership with the Ontario Society of Professional Engineers (OSPE). Go ENG Girl gives girls in grades seven to ten the chance to explore opportunities in engineering through a number of hands-on activities. Go ENG Girl also provides the students and their parents with the information they need to choose the right high school courses in order to study engineering at the post-secondary level.

Go ENG Girl instructor Nika Shakiba leads girls through the polar bear design challenge
Go ENG Girl instructor Nika Shakiba leads girls through the polar bear design challenge

U of T’s event is organized by the Engineering Student Outreach Office, which welcomed more than 130 participants.

Throughout the day, Sharmin, her fellow instructors, and volunteers led the girls through engineering-oriented activities including a design challenge that showed participants how science and engineering can save polar bears.

“It is crucial for U of T Engineering to host events such as Go ENG Girl,” said Dean Cristina Amon, “It is a tremendous opportunity to demonstrate that engineering is about more than technology or machinery—it is a caring profession that improves people’s everyday lives and solves global challenges.”

This year’s event was Sharmin’s second time as a Go ENG Girl instructor. “The girls are so brilliant,” she said, “They come up with these creative ideas that just blow your mind.”

She hopes that events like Go ENG Girl will inspire more girls to become the engineers of tomorrow. “Girls should choose what they want to do, but sometimes they don’t consider engineering,” said Sharmin. “The ratio of girls to boys in my program is a little low, but each and every girl is amazing. So I want these girls to know that engineering is an option.”

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