Helen Girod is the president of the Johns Hopkins chapter of Engineers Without Borders. To get involved in EWB, send an email to ewb.jhu@gmail.com and head to a general body meeting!
1.Name: Helen Girod
2.Major, Year: Environmental Engineering (Minor in Engineering for Sustainable Development), Junior
3.Hometown: Carlsbad, California
4.Affiliated with: JHU Varsity Track and Field, JHU Engineers Without Borders, JHU Society of Women Engineers, American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists
5.You can usually find me…In the athletic center, Ames, or any cube in the lib
6. My favorite part about Hopkins is…The trees, being from southern California we have very few trees, so trees that have color changing leaves are always exciting.
7.I am most proud of…Completing my Girl Scout Gold Award. Working with people in my hometown we created a program called Chemo Comfort Companions with the American Cancer Society. Together we assembled over 400 comfort bags containing items such as blankets, crochet hats, books, mp3 players with music played by local students, water bottles and much more.
8. In five years I will be…Graduated with a Bachelor’s and Master’s in environmental engineering and doing international work focusing on sustainability. That’s the plan anyways.
9.Something most people don’t know about me is…Most people don’t know that I spend a lot of my time off from school backpacking. I grew up backpacking and I just really enjoy being completely removed from the stresses of school and other aspects of life. You really just get to focus on you.
10.As President of EWB my main responsibilities are…Overseeing basically everything EWB. I make sure everything runs smoothly and work with our advisors in WSE, CSC and the Student Activities Center to ensure JHU-EWB is continuing to make a difference both on and off campus. I definitely don’t do it alone; 14 other Executive Board members as well as our general body members work to make our chapter successful.
11.What on campus events has EWB hosted this semester or is EWB planning to host in the future? Every week we have project team meetings for our four different projects as well as general body meetings. We also just hosted a donut, coffee, and sticker giveaway this semester! Our PR chairs have big plans for the spring: Hopefully more giveaways and the revamping of our spring fair event. We will also have some local volunteering opportunities on the books for our two local projects
12.What does EWB hope to accomplish in the next 2 years? In the next two years JHU-EWB hopes to have two local projects well under way. We have typically focused on our international projects, but now we also are focusing on Baltimore. Our international projects plan to continue developing a relationship with community partners as well as assist them in implementing project phases. Overall, we hope to be a stronger force on campus and get more students involved!
13.How do you manage your time as both an athlete and the president of a major organization on campus? With a good, old-fashioned paper planner. The thing goes with me everywhere and everything gets written down.
14.How can one get involved in EWB?
Just email us! ewb.jhu@gmail.com or visit our website at http://ewb.jhu.edu/