National Council Bio: Sara DaSilva, VPAA

We continue the series of profiles of our National Council Members. These letters were written to the membership to help you get to know us better as your governing council.  This letter is from Sara DaSilva, Vice President of Alumnae Affairs.

Hello everyone!

My name is Sara DaSilva, and I am the National Vice President of Alumnae Affairs for Phi Sigma Rho. I am 29 years old and live in a town called Pottstown, not too far from Philadelphia. I got married in 2007 to my husband Marco, and we have two dachshunds named Coco and Bear. I work as a Six Sigma Black Belt for Praxair, Inc., an industrial gases manufacturer. I am a chemical engineer who
went to Pittsburgh-Zeta, and I also have my MBA.

I grew up in the Twin Cities area of Minnesota and went to Catholic grade school and public high school. It was a huge switch going from a class of 19 to 650! My parents were transplants to Minnesota (my Mom is from Wausau, WI and my dad is from Cleveland) but have lived there ever since they got married. I have a younger brother named Dave, but unfortunately ladies, he is no longer single.

I had some great science teachers in high school who really made science challenging and fun. I am definitely a logical, analytical person, so I think engineering made sense for me at the time. But I also always enjoyed English and Music classes. I decided to go to Pitt in the fall of 1998 after looking at
several schools—we went there on a really beautiful day for the campus tour and I think that is what locked it in for me! Little did I know how gray it usually is in Pittsburgh.

All kidding aside, I loved Pittsburgh and my experience there. I really struggled at times with school, and I was never going to win any merit scholarships! But again I had teachers who cared whether I learned what they were teaching me, and they helped me make it. During school I co-oped at two different places: OSRAM Sylvania in Towanda, PA, and Honeywell Performance Fibers in Hopewell, VA. Neither of them were hiring when I graduated in April 2003, though. I wasn’t sure where I would want to live, so I would take anything that seemed right. I interviewed with lots of places but ultimately it came down to two companies that were supposed to make me job offers within the same week: GM and Praxair.

I found out about a program for Leadership Training at Praxair through another Pitt grad. For my interview with Praxair I was a mess! It was in Houston in May and it was about 95 degrees. There I was in my nice suit, eager to get the job--and my flight got cancelled! I showed up late to the interview and consequently had to be interviewed by a couple of the teams put together—there were 8 people interviewing me at once! But I got the job and definitely credit my ability to adapt to difficult situations in helping me make it through that situation and many others since then.

I started my leadership program in July 2003 in Suffield, CT. I got to travel all over the country and learn about the various parts of Praxair’s business. After about a year and a half I was transferred to my first permanent position as Facility Superintendent of a production plant in Hatfield, PA. At this time Marco came to live with me. We started dating in 2001 (and we met at a sorority party!). It was very nerve-wracking at first (I was worried he would get sick of my clutter and I wouldn’t be able to stand his neatness) but it did lead us to marriage! And the neatness and clutter is definitely an issue—but it’s worth it being married!

I have encountered a lot of tough situations in my job as I worked in a place with no other women and I was always the youngest person by at least 10 years—usually by about 30! I transitioned into my current role as a Black Belt in April 2009 and I have been very happy with it. It was a big shift from being a manager of about 20 people (now I work at home) but both work environments have their
advantages.

Because I have struggled both through school and in my jobs, I have always appreciated the bond of sisterhood. I have found it so hard to make friends once I moved new places, but Phi Sigma Rho has this terrific network of women who at least share one thing in common: something drove us to at
least attempt an engineering or science-related field! I have been able to meet some terrific women in the Philadelphia area that get together about once a month. We’re all from different chapters but it’s funny how much we have in common! And it’s wonderful to have some friends to lean on in those tough times.

I’ve often said that PSR means even more to me as an adult than it did while I was in school. I was an Alpha class member at Pitt, and I am so proud of my Charcoal Gray family (it’s very prolific!). I am also proud of what my chapter has become. I remember a semester when we only had 8 girls active, and now Pitt is one of the biggest chapters. When I was in school I held lots of different positions, but I loved being Vice President. When I graduated I decided to stay involved and I became the RFD for UConn-Theta. Then in my second year, Rutgers-Xi was added to my territory. I also became involved with the beginning stages of the Foundation at that time and ultimately decided to run for a National Council Position.

I ran for National VP of Alumnae Affairs in 2005, and was lucky to be elected. It was a learning curve at first, but there is always a mix of experienced and new people on Council, so I was able to catch up quickly. I enjoyed my two-year term and decided to run for President for the 11th National Council. I was elected again and spent an eye-opening two years as President. I learned to delegate and trust
people, and to use my management skills to maintain an effective and productive board. I decided one more term would be fun, so I ran for VPAA again, and that’s where I am now!

I’m very passionate about the alumnae experience and want other sisters to experience the benefits I have stumbled upon by meeting other great alums and networking and just connecting. Phi Rhos have enriched my life beyond what I could have expected. I talk to Phi Rhos about deciding whether and when to have kids, how to deal with bosses who think you should be more like a man, dealing with people at work who think you are too pretty to be smart, how to manage a dual-earner partnership with your spouse, but also what books are good, where to find good coupons, and where our next girls trip will be!

I will leave you with a few tidbits from my PSR experience. My best friend in the world is a Phi Rho. Seeing her be able to manage having a child, a husband, and a job made me realize I can do it too. At my little’s wedding last August, we actually sang the Phi Rho Round and circled around her. My chapter’s alumnae welcome the new alums every semester by taking them to a piano bar and having them go on stage. I would consider myself an honorary member of at least two other chapters where I’ve gotten to know some of the alums very well. We are proud that we are an engineering sorority. Penguin Perks and snaps to all of my Phi Rho friends!!

Phi Rho Love,

Sara DaSilva
National VP of Alumnae Affairs
Sara.engel.phirho@gmail.com

“Just who is this ‘VPAA Phi Sigma Rho’ anyway? And why does she e-mail me every week?”

Hi, Phi Rho sisters! My name is Monique Chinchar and I am your new Vice President of Alumnae Affairs (VPAA) – so I confess, I’m the culprit behind the weekly e-mails you’ve been receiving since early November, when I was appointed to the position. Check me out at www.phisigmarho.org/nationals.

The main purpose of my position is to do whatever I can to facilitate communication with our Alumnae sisters – including communication within Alumnae groups, between National Council and all Alumnae, and between individual Alumnae sisters. Although we are starting to use blogs (such as this) and social networking sites for communication, e-mail is still the most efficient and widely used format to deliver Phi Rho news and information. So you can look forward to continuing to receive weekly or bi-weekly e-mail from me – there’s just so much going on that I have to share with all of you, and I want you all to be well-informed and not miss any opportunities!

2009 will be an exciting and important year for our Sorority, as we will be celebrating the 25th Anniversary of Phi Sigma Rho. There is a great deal of planning going into Convention 2009 (July 16 – 19, 2009 in Pittsburgh, PA), and whether you can make it or not, there is plenty of opportunity to get involved. Visit www.phisigmarho.org/convention2009 for details, or contact the Convention Committee at Convention2009@phisigmarho.org if you have questions – or just watch your inbox for my e-mails!

Information about new and existing programs/resources for Alumnae and Actives can be found at www.phisigmarho.org, but if you’re not a frequent visitor to the website, I want to be sure that you don’t miss out. So you will receive communications from me or from your Alumnae Association Chair about opportunities to get involved. You can be a volunteer that helps provide these programs/resources, as well as a recipient of the benefits that they have to offer!

I think this is a very exciting time to be a Phi Rho. I’m in my 9th year of sisterhood, and the drastic rate of improvement I’ve witnessed year after year is amazing. We just keep getting better – but what else would you expect from a group of engineering women? That’s what engineering is about – continuous improvement! My mission is to do my best to engage as many Alumnae sisters as possible, to help you take advantage of everything Phi Rho has to offer you after graduation, and to help you keep the bonds of sisterhood going strong between Alumnae sisters.

So that’s why I’m always e-mailing you … but I promise to try not to bombard you! I’d love to hear back from you at VPofAlumnaeAffairs@phisigmarho.org.

PRL,
Monique =)

A Motivational Phi Rho Weekend

We've all now left PA and headed back to our homes, but I think we've left our face-to-face a bit more rejuvinated and motivated about PSR and our upcoming year! Since you all don't get to spend time with us at these meetings, we want to share with you a little bit about what we do.

First and foremost, it is a meeting and great opportunity to get a lot done with everyone together. We had some business to take care and one of the big ones was voting to appoint a new VP of Alumnae Affairs. While this is a lot of work, it proved to be even harder this time around because we had FIVE wonderful women submit platforms for consideration! That's a record for us. While a tough decision, we know we made the right one and we were happy to see such interest in volunteering. (By the way, we hope that this is a good sign for the upcoming nominations for the 12th NC!)

Next, and a personal favorite, we spent the majority of our weekend planning for our 25th anniversary celebration at National Convention 2009! We have big plans for a lot of celebration activities including seeing Pittsburgh, networking with alumnae and actives, celebrating our founders and the successes of the last 25 years, and spending time with sisters. As we really get rolling on the plans, we hope to get you guys as excited as we are.

And the best part of these meetings is that we get to remember that we're not just volunteers for Phi Sigma Rho, but we are sisters first and final! While we always have tons of work to do over the phone and on email, and when we get together at these meetings, we definitely got to take advantage of being together and having time to enjoy each others company. We had a great opportunity to talk about things ranging relationships, careers, politics, and what is really going on in our lives. I don't think that we always remember what lifelong sisterhood is about, but it's these moments of fun, sharing, and bonding that bring me back to our ideals!