Work In Progress: A Unique Self -Supporting Program for Woman Engineering Students at a Christian University

The Engineering Department at Cedarville University has been making great efforts in helping female engineering students succeed. With no outside funds or support, we designed a self-supporting program. Targeting the high drop-out rate during the freshman year, this mentoring program starts each semester with the new female engineering student orientation. From there, these new students are asked to form horizontal support teams among them. Then upper class female students form vertical mentoring teams with the newest students. Diverse activities are organized to help all the female students meet, communicate and encourage each other. This paper discuss how our mentoring program provides support, what kinds of activities we use to help female students build self-confidence, and our plans for expansion in the coming year. Through this self-supporting mentoring program, initial accomplishment has been seen through female students study and 55% increase in retention rate