March 2, 2019
Over the last few weeks of February, Megan has been staying after school regularly for the SWE Society of Women Engineers Club. They were working in teams on Rube Goldberg machines and getting ready for competition. Megan was recruited by some of her friends who where in the club, because their team needed help. The team was all freshman and really had no experience. They were struggling with components, function and presentation. Most of the element design had already been done before Megan started, so she was helping to improve what was already there.
The goal of the machine was to get a coin in a piggy bank. The team picked the theme "When pigs Fly". Megan threw herself into it but found herself frustrated. The components weren't great and the look of the machine was really lacking. A lot of the team was also being pulled away to the play stage crew and lacrosse try-outs. She felt a lot of pressure. She said their machine was a bit embarrassing compared to the other teams. She had to find a balance and a healthy emotional distance. There wasn't time to fix everything, but she could certainly make it better. And she could feel proud of that.
She can home with raw fingers and covered in wood shavings on days when she used the laser cutter to make picket fence posts. Other days her hands were covered in dried glue, when she made clouds, a hot air balloon and lots of paper sunflowers. All of her crafty skills were in full bloom.
Competition day arrived and she joined the teams from the high school to travel Howard High School with their machines. After Bridget's dance class, the rest of us went and picked up Josh and went to see Megan at the competition. I texted Meg that we were coming and she replied "Please Don't". I am so glad we did.
The Rube Goldberg machines were so much fun. Johanna was fascinated, Bridget was observant, and Rachael and Josh knew lots of the students from each of the teams and jumped into visiting. I don't know why but Rachael was unnecessarily critical of Megan and it put a cloud over our arrival. Later Rachael apologized but hurts take time to heal. Luckily Megan was busy and had a little sister fan club. Throughout the competition the machines were reset and started, for judges and spectators. Johanna talked to each of the teams and really wanted to be involved. Megan's team was so welcoming. Only 3 team members could be in the competition space at a time and they even let Johanna take one of the spots, so she could help reset and launch the machine.
I could see all of Megan's influence throughout the machine. I was really proud of her. They were able to run it with only 2 touches. That is when a team member has to touch the machine to make it function properly. She said it was the best run they had had. I know there were a number of things Megan would have liked to have time to improve, but I think she was proud of the work they did.
I got to hear one of the SWE interview teams (made of professional women engineers) come over and talk to them and they got great feedback. The interviewers were impressed that they did so well despite being all first time freshman participants. They also commented on many of the improvements that Megan had personally made.
The "When Pigs Fly" team came home with a SWE Promising Engineer Award, a lot lessons learned and experience gained.
Back at the end of January, I was out with Megan after school, and started preparing dinner when I got home. Johanna had been home with Rae and Bridget and drawing in her bedroom while we were out. She came in to talk to me while I was making dinner. I saw her and paused, doing a double take. I asked "did you cut your hair?" She said Yes, it was bothering her. I guess it was falling in her face while she was drawing. Her hair wasn't alarmingly bad but it looked odd.
