So you may know the story behind why Erin and I started working together to create Sci Chic, but you probably don’t know how Erin and I met at school a little while before our business venture. Erin and I started at the University of Florida in the fall of 2012 to begin our mechanical engineering journey. Unfortunately our paths did not cross until much later than our first semester. While I later deviated slightly to include aerospace engineering, Erin and I have realized since becoming friends that many of our first classes overlapped but our paths did not cross.
Erin and I met at the end of our sophomore year through a mutual friend, Jenny. Jenny and I were assigned on a group project together for Mechanics of Materials. I did not know Jenny beforehand, but there were only about 10 girls in my class so it wasn’t too difficult to figure out who she was. While working on the project for long hours together, Jenny and I became fast friends. While spending so much time with Jenny, I was able to meet Erin. At the end of the semester Jenny and I stayed on campus for the summer term (I had a research position) while Erin left for California for an internship.
When school started again in the August, and Erin returned, I became a member of the Society of Women Engineers. Jenny and Erin convinced me to attend since Erin was the president. I started attending almost every event with my two new friends. Since I was actively involved, I decided to attend the annual national conference in October. I had much fun attending the conference and exploring Los Angeles. The three of us were fortunate enough to receive internship offers while attending the conference. We had all found our place for the next summer. The conference was not all work and no play so we explored some of the tourist spots in LA. This is where our infamous selfie selfie photo, or selfie-ception, came to be. We try to recreate this photo whenever we are all together.
Since the beginning of our friendship Erin, Jenny, and I have had a blast together. We have painted pumpkins for Halloween, attended school BBQs, went to football games, created an all girls row in one of our classes where on Wednesdays we wore pink, participated in the UF Homecoming parade, toured the Central Shops at Walt Disney World, had a blast in the Lego Store at Downtown Disney (see below), painted our nails in the SWE office, attended more SWE conferences, and had a few birthdays. We are still involved in SWE. I am currently the president of the Univeristy of Florida section and Erin holds a regional position.
At the end of the day, the three of us have made friendships that will last long past college, and it’s all thanks to our Mechanics of Materials professor for placing Jenny and I in the same group. Thank you to Professor Simmons for taking great measures to guarentee that there were pairs of girls in groups instead of singling them out.
Emily Huber
Chief Technology Officer
