Note: This story was the cover story for the annual NPRE News magazine, which came out in December 2024.
When you are in the thick of work, sometimes you don’t realize your successes until you hear about them from someone else.
In the case of our University of Illinois chapter of Women in Nuclear (WIN), being named the most outstanding student chapter in the country came as a surprise to its current members, even though it’s the second time in five years the chapter has earned such an honor.
The chapter’s current leadership is quick to point to their predecessors, including last year’s co-presidents, Madeline Morasca and Nataly Panczyk, as a huge contributing factor to their national recognition.
“I didn’t really expect it,” said co-president Bella Pequette, a senior from Tinley Park, Ill. “A lot of the work that was done was done by previous presidents, like submitting metrics and records of the things that we do. You don’t notice how much work you’ve done until you see it accumulated and realize that you’ve done a lot.”
“As you go through the year, we do one to three events per month,” co-president Nitika Purohit, a senior from Boston, Mass., said. “It doesn’t seem like a lot, but when you start listing them all out, you realize it is. When we compare the work we’ve done with other chapters, I thought the amount of work we’d done was pretty standard, but clearly, it’s not.”
From month to month, the WIN chapter holds meetings and outreach events in the community. There are also more social activities, whether it be nail painting parties in the Talbot student lounge, a group yoga class or joint events with the award-winning American Nuclear Society chapter.
When asked what may set this chapter apart from other top ones in the country, Purohit pointed to the enjoyment Illinois’s members get from their time in WIN. “We’re all very passionate and excited about the events we host,” she said. “It doesn’t feel like work.”
Being a part of WIN has improved experience of its members inside and outside of the classroom.
“It’s definitely helped me make a lot of friends, especially among upperclassmen,” social chair Olivia Evans, a junior also from Boston, said. “Everyone is really welcoming. It’s nice to be able to go to events and know people.”
“The friends and connections we make in WIN really help in classes, when we’re all together,” Pequette said. “Being able to reach out to people you know to work on homework or study together is great.”
And though the name of the group is Women in Nuclear, events and meetings are designed to include students of all genders. For the best chapter in the nation, WIN is for all.
“One of our foundational pillars is community, and I feel like we really try to hit on that the most,” Purohit said. “We want to make sure that everyone feels included. Women in Nuclear is foundationally meant to help women feel more comfortable in nuclear departments, but it’s for anyone and everyone who wants to feel comfortable in a group of people.”