- One measure of an organization’s staying power: it has been around longer than most of its members have been alive. Case in point: the NIU student chapter of the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE).
Last spring, at their 25th anniversary gala, alumni, members and supporters gathered in the Holmes Student Center’s Sky Room for the milestone. Industrial engineering graduate Edgar Sida, ’03, served as the featured speaker.
“SHPE more than anything becomes a true familia for everyone trying to make it through those math classes and then engineering courses,” said Sida, owner and CEO of Mantee Services Inc., a St. Charles, Illinois-based manufacturing company. “Having others with similar backgrounds and goals and who would do anything to achieve them was the motivation I needed.”
Several College of Engineering and Engineering Technology (CEET) leaders, including Dean Dave Grewell, attended the gala and reinforced the importance of nurturing SHPE’s “family for life” spirit. Also at the gala were several past chapter presidents, including Jose Hurtado, ’15, Pablo Bernal, ’18, Giovanni Gutierrez, ’20, Jorge Vidales, ’23, and Jorge Fernandez, ’22.
Within CEET, professional development programming, such as resume building, honing interview skills and career networking, has helped propel SHPE to become one of the most active and successful student-led organizations. The chapter has over 40 members.
Bolstered by financial support from Collins Aerospace in recent years, 20 to 35 members regularly attend regional and national SHPE conferences. That vibrancy parallels SHPE’s stature across the United States. It is the largest association dedicated to fostering Hispanic leadership in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) field.
NIU chapter members who regularly attended conferences have secured internships and job offers that have been pivotal in launching their careers.
One example is Robert Espinoza, ’26, a past chapter president who noted that attending SHPE conferences helped him grow in his persistence and ability to meet professionals. At one conference, the last table he visited sparked an internship with Northrop Grumman, a leading American aerospace and defense technology company.
Josejulian Vigil-Perea, ’25, now a field engineer with construction company Mortenson, said SHPE national conferences “opened the doors for opportunities I would have never had the chance to have—like networking with the biggest companies in the world and other chapters from all around the nation.”
At the most recent national conference, NIU SHPE members secured 28 offers, ranging from internship positions to full-time post-graduation roles.
Those opportunities are fertile soil to grow alongside other SHPE family members.
Sida, who launched his company after 18 years working at Collins Aerospace, aptly put it in sky’s-the-limit terms: “A launching pad to go after your dreams.”
Follow the NIU SHPE chapter on Instagram.