Momentum - The Magazine for Virginia Tech Mechanical Engineering Vol. 3 No. 1 Spring 2018 | Page 29

“Sometimes we have to be cheerleaders for
those students, male and female, who come
in and want to quit,” Vick said. “Toward the
end of the semester, we’re doing a lot more
cheerleading, pumping them up and telling
them they can do it. I keep a box of tissues
nearby for the students, because it’s easy to get
discouraged.”
“People who succeed at engineering, or
anything, need to be willing to take risks and
be wrong,” Vick said. “You can’t be afraid of
failing and you have to build up your self-es-
teem enough where you don’t care about
being wrong. Those are qualities we see more
often in our male students. We try to encour-
age our females not to internalize criticism or
failure.”
For the young women who enter the de-
partment today, Vick points to options that
didn’t always exist as ways for women to
become involved and interact with peers.
“One of the best things my daughter did was
join CEED (Center for Enhancement of Engi-
neering Diversity) programs,” Vick said. She
lived in Hypatia (a living-learning community
for women in engineering) with other female
engineering students. When you feel like
you’re not alone, when you’re not the only
one struggling, it’s a lot easier. When you can
live in a community and make friends in your
major who are also female – they are the best
support system ever. If you hear them talking
badly about themselves, you understand how
you might be doing the same thing and think,
no, that’s not right.”
Through the years, Vick has seen thousands
of students pass through Blacksburg and some
come back and seek her out.
“I’ve heard from former students who come
back and they thank us for supporting them,”
Vick said. “One female came to me often for
encouragement while another female faulty
member gave her the tough love she needed.
She came back to thank us, because she so
often wanted to quit and we kept pushing her.
She ended up doing very well at her job and
had just been promoted. That’s very satisfying
as a professor, an advisor, an engineer, and a
woman.”
MOMENTUM
SPRING 2018
PAGE 29