We had a fabulous trip yesterday to Microsoft campus, to see the Home of the Future and the Envisioning Center. The girls loved the tour seeing technology 10 years in the future and also getting to try new technology not yet released. They had such a great time. Then we met with inspirational women who work all over the company for lunch and a dynamic discussion between girls and women. We had over 40 girls attend this event.
I want to thank Brooke Schnyder, who makes these events possible, and works so hard to have IGNITE girls taken care of in the best way, and she is truly devoted to making this happen. A big thank you to Claire O’Donnell who supports our field trips each and every time, as a volunteer. Claire works so hard to have everything run smoothly, from making sure we have our space just so, enough chairs, tables and all the details that make it just perfect. Claire is amazing. A big thank you to Eileen Lybyer, who has helped us reserve our rooms this year and also worked so hard behind the scenes finding us the right rooms so our experience is awesome.
Thank you to our fabulous tour guides at the Home and Envisioning Center who really care about the girls experience and provide an uplifting visit. Thank you to Jackie Giuliano, Lead Tour Moderator for the Home, and Tiffany Dedeaux, who leads the tour in the Envisioning Center. Thank you both for being so devoted to the girls experience. And thank you to the Welcome from Kaitlin Ratliff, Event Coordinator for the Home and Envisioning Center. It’s so nice to be welcomed with open arms.
Now to the wonderful women who attended the event yesterday to spend time with the girls and talk with them in the most caring and thoughtful way.
All the talented and engaging women who are now IGNITED, Steph Burg, Valerie Olague, Jennifer Kelly, Melissa Adams, Madonna Mayor, Leenat Arsiwalla, Meghna Misra, Allison Jones, and Elisabeth Olson. What an amazing group of women! We are so fortunate to have these gifted women role models who care so much about girls career and technology education. To inspire girls to consider technology as positive career choice. It was indeed a powerful visit and I will share the girls comments with you below.
I want to thank the extremely valuable teachers that dedicate their time to being an IGNITE leader at their school. They do it simply because they care that girls get this kind of experience and we are sincerely indebted to them. Thank you to Pete Bawden, Project Lead the Way , Pre-Engineering teacher from Franklin. Pete has been devoted as the IGNITE chapter leader at Franklin HS for years. WE are so fortunate to have him on board.
And thank you to Sarah Orton, Family and Consumer Science teacher from West Seattle. Sarah wants her female students to be experiencing this kind of career education. She is a co-lead with Michelle Sloan another dedicated and wonderful teacher from West Seattle HS. Thank you all for making this day possible, I know how hard you all work to get the girls ready to go on a field trip. Its a lot of work!
Here are the comments from the girls evaluation forms.
- I liked the house of the future a lot! It showed me you can improve the way you live in everyday life by one simple chip. I wish I could come back and see it again. I thought everything was great and I learned so much. I want to do more IGNITE events. Thank you !
- I loved seeing future technology and learning from the women at Microsoft all about their careers. I want to do anything IGNITE has to offer.
- I thought this event was perfect, from seeing future technology to talking with women in Microsoft. I want to do more with IGNITE.
- I learned that technology careers need more women. I thought this day was fabulous. Seeing future technology and meeting women who do this everyday. I would like to go to more of these events.
- I loved that there were all women who spoke today. I learned all the different ways I can pursue a technology career.
- I liked the tour and the women that came to speak to us.
- I liked all of the information given and talking to the Microsoft workers. I learned more about Microsoft and how we can prepare to work there. I do want to attend more IGNITE events.
- I liked how all of our questions were answered , especially about how many years I need to study to become successful in engineering and technical. I really look forward to hearing about more events like this and IGNITE activities. Everything was great.
- The things I liked most was learning about the women and how they started their jobs and training. I really liked the tour, it was amazing and made me think about my life and the type of world I want to live in. I liked how the women really loved their jobs and working in tech at Microsoft. It was really encouraging.
- Seeing the employee work hands on with modern day technology. I also learned about the interview process and how I have to think to work in tech.
- I loved the tour and meeting all the ladies that worked at Microsoft. I wished for more time to talk with the ladies. More events like this one.
- I enjoyed the tour of the future house and talking with the ladies from Microsoft. I thought the tour was mind blowing. Shopping from your own mirror!
- I really learned a lot about how people work at Microsoft, I learned that there was teams of people and how many teams there were. I learned a lot and had food, it was great.
- I liked how they answered our questions we had and also how they kept everything interesting and not boring. Also loved viewing the HOME.
- I loved learning about all of the different careers at Microsoft..How many different teams there are not only in SEattle but also in other countries.
- I thought the Envisioning center was cool. It was amazing to see all of the future technology. I could not even grasp the concept! How the computer will be able to recognize you and you don’t even have to log in for the future technologies. I want to do more things at Microsoft.
- There was a wide variety of job options to learn from. It was interesting that a lot of women were not sure what they wanted to do and how they ended up in their current jobs.
- Getting to see the future house, and learning how fast things change. I loved everything.
- I liked how they showed us the future and what might happen considering technology. I also liked the panel where the women talked about all of their jobs.
- I liked meeting the women and talking about school, and then telling me how they did in college. Its something that really inspired me too. I wish we could have stayed a bit longer. I thought it was the great, best trip ever.
- I loved the envisioning center and how they let us test out products. That was really cool. I wanted to do both tours.
- I loved the envisioning center because I got to see stuff that is not out yet. Also that women did not even think that they would be in this job field and that they did not know what they were going to do. I learned that there are a lot of ways to get to work at Microsoft.
- I was really surprised to see how much technology will change things in 5-10 years. It was all perfect.
- It was a great day! Everything I loved it. I wish I could live here.
- I loved hearing about the women.
- It was a modern day mind blower. I loved everything, just wished we had more time.
- I loved the Envisioning Center and I saw a lot of good technology. I loved doing hands on stuff in the Envisioning center. Everything was great.
Thank you all for such a tremendous day. It really made a difference in the lives of 40+ girls.
Cathi
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