2012 was Very Good to WiN…

• WiN-Canada membership continues to grow with a 20% increase over last year, largely due to the new chapter inSaskatchewan.
• We completed the incorporation of WiN, opened a new bank account and took over our own banking responsibilities.
• We secured continued support for the full time Executive Director position from OPG and Bruce Power.
• We had diverse attendance from companies in the industry at our annual conference. We enjoyed record sponsorship from the industry, which helped us realize a profit of over $50,000.00, to be used for 2013 programming.
• We produced a new WiN promotional video showcasing members talking about their personal experiences within WiN.
• We purchased science curriculum kits at the chapter level to be distributed to kindergarten and daycare classrooms that offer a very hands-on experience connecting science to everyday life.
• An article about WiN’s position paper, Women in the Skilled Trades and Technology – Myths and Realties was featured in the Media Planet insertion for International Women’s Day in the Toronto Star.
• We had a large presence at the CNA conference in Ottawa. We staffed a WiN booth and Susan Brissette, WiN-Canada’s Past President spoke on a plenary panel on Innovative Methods of Communicating Science and Colleen Sidford, WiN-Canada’s President, spoke on a panel on Career Development.
• We welcomed the WiN-Saskatchewan chapter into the WiN-Canada family and signed a co-operation agreement with Saskatchewan Women in Mining (SWIM) to create a joint chapter. A very successful launch with over 100 attendees took place at the CNS conference in June.
• WiN also had a great presence at the CNS conference inSaskatchewan. Thanks to the board members who put in the nomination, I was awarded the CNA/CNS Education and Communication award for my work with WiN-Canada. WiN also presented at the CNS Annual meeting and at the NAYGN seminar on our activities and staffed a booth at the conference.
• We participated in 10 Skills Canada dinners acrossCanada, reaching over 1,160 elementary and secondary school female students.
• We facilitated two successful full week summer GIRLS Science Camps, a 2-day March break camp and 6 club sessions.Other chapters are doing outreach in schools, attending community events i.e., Science Olympics, GIRLS Inc., Go ENG Girl. As result of all our programs we reached over 270 girls grades 4-7.
• We helped organize two successful Skills Work! Summer Day Camps for boys and girls showcasing different trades and technologies used in the nuclear industry.
• We provided a monetary award to the female student with the highest overall mark at the Ontario Technological Skills Competition.
• We sat on the Communication Working Committee, the Social Media Working Committee at the CNA and participated in the CEO Leadership Forum for the nuclear industry.
• We participated in a very successful Parliament Hill Day with over 36 participants attending meetings with 25 senators, MPs and parliamentary staff.
• We contributed WiN-Canada stories to all four issues of WiNFO put out by our global organization.
• We had a number of great outreach opportunities by the board this year with OSPE; Saugeen District Secondary School; the CNA Board, Communications Committee and Social Media Committee; CEO Leadership Forum; CNS Nuclear 101 and annual meeting; NAYGN; 7^thAnnual Int’l Youth Nuclear Congress; AECL Open House; Go ENG Girl; and CNI-LP.
• Our website drew 25,690 visitors from 161 countries. The blog was read over 14,000 times over the past year and the women on WiN feature drew over 30,000 page views.
• We held a number of local chapter meetings covering excellent topics with great speakers reaching over 790 members.

WiN has been very busy and successful 2012 and 2013 proves to be just as active. All this work is the result of our wonderful members who work tirelessly to support the industry’s success. I hope you all come back refreshed and ready to take an active role in all WiN’s activities in 2013.

As this is my final blog for 2012, I would like to take this opportunity to wish you all the happiest of holidays. Enjoy your time with family and friends. It has been a great year for Women in Nuclear (WiN) and we look forward to bigger and better things in 2013.