SOCIETIES

from expliCIT, Magazine of MTU Cork SU

CONSIDER VACCINATION

WOMEN IN STEM SOCIETY CIT

By Elaine Muscheidt

WiSTEM CIT is a society whose foundation is based on bringing together women who study Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths in CIT, in order for them to share their passions and experience. Orlaith McGowan and Ciara Sheehan, two 3rd Year Mechanical Engineering students, realised there was desire and a need for women to be represented in the traditionally male dominated STEM field courses in CIT. From this the Women in STEM Society was established. The vision: to create a space for women in STEM courses to find support and assistance during their college and working lives. Since its founding in 2019 WiSTEM CIT has had an avalanche of interest, with close to 300 new members this semester alone!

Academic course based societies

2020 Community

Automotive Marketing Physical Sciences

automotive@citsocieties.ie marketing@citsocieties.ie physicalsciences@citsocieties.ie

Activities instructor led societies

Alexander Technique

alexandertech@citsocieties.ie Interest societies focusing on a specific hobby

Airsoft Anime & Manga Cyber Security

Esport .

Photographic Programming

Pool & Board Games Sci-Fi

airsoft@citsocieties.ie anime@citsocieties.ie cybersecurity@citsocieties.ie esport@citsocieties.ie photographic@citsocieties.ie programming@citsocieties.ie gamescsm@citsocieties.ie scifi@citsocieties.ie

Societies Office Opening Hours Monday - Friday 10:00am —4:00pm By appointment only

Office Support & general queries Fintan O' Leary fintan.oleary@cit.ie 021-4335767

Founding members Ciara and Orlaith at a WiSTEM event.

WiSTEM are active in collaborating with leaders in industry such as Pfizer, Stryker, and MSD plus many more. This has led to a number of extremely successful webinar events that have run throughout the year. These events allow for networking amongst students and professionals in STEM. These connections are just part of what Orlaith finds rewarding about her role as co-chairperson. WiSTEM has offered its members the opportunity to make friends from the different CIT courses and campuses.

For Ciara, the adaptability and survival of WiSTEM throughout the pandemic has been a source of joy. Events like the Freshers Social and the WiSTEM quiz night came as a pleasant break from college work for the co-chairperson and all those that attended.

To continue with the role of highlighting women representation, WiSTEM is currently focused on a Women in Tech event which is causing a lot of excitement with its members. 2021 will be bringing more industry led webinars and a variety of social events.

For those that are interested in joining the society please visit www.societies.cit.ie Upcoming WiSTEM events can be followed on: Facebook - wistemsocietycit Instagram - wistemcit Linkedin - Wistem Society CIT and Twitter - WiSTEMCIT Breaking barriers. Inspiring Change.

Since our new committee convened just over a month ago, we’ve achieved more than we reasonably could have expected in such a short space of time. From trade secrets to Toy Show; we’ve learned and delivered in ways we never anticipated.

At the start of November, we launched our first giveaway, by partnering with Rochestown Park Hotel; who generously donated a voucher for one nights bed and breakfast. We decided to charge for entry and donate all proceeds to Cork Simon. In the end we raised over €200. In a very difficult year, we felt one of our priorities should be to give back to those who need help most.

Continuing our partnership with BUMBLEance, we were offered the opportunity to take over their social media for The Late Late Toy Show. As luck would have it, it turned out to be the best one in our living memories. Two of the children, Jack Beattie and Adam King, were some of the ‘King Bees’ of BUMBLEance, they undoubtedly stole the hearts of Ireland and the wider world. The Toy Show appeal has raised over 6.5 million euros and counting, with the proceeds going to incredible children’s charities all across the country.

Throughout November, we continued to host guest speakers and workshops. These events were all well received and gave the CIT community valuable insights into the world of marketing and business alike. Some speakers included Jennifer Power, the Head of Marketing for McDonalds Ireland and Raymond Kelleher, Director of Sales and Marketing at The Montenotte Hotel.

We also held a LinkedIn workshop which was hosted by Gearoid Buckley, Group Marketing Manager at LinkedIn itself. This was particularly useful for first and second year students who may wish to go out on placement next year; it’s a fantastic platform to make yourself known to the business and marketing community in both Cork and Ireland.

We also launched our Cork Business of The Week initiative, we invited students to nominate and vote for Businesses which they felt had excelled in marketing and customer service despite the pandemic. Our first two winners being West Cork Burger Company and Umi Falafel.

With all this achieved in just under two months of our new committee being instated, we feel the future is bright. We encourage all students of any background whatsoever to join us and get involved, we’re always open to new faces and new ideas. We’re looking forward to seeing what we can all achieve in December and the coming new year as an end to this global crisis is within reach. There are many stories yet to be written and told, so don’t be afraid to come and tell your story at CIT Marketing Society!