Thomas Jefferson High School proudly hosted our first Ignite Panel event! We had over 30 young women signed up for this event. Our students were excited to learn from this diverse panel that included Cheryl Ingram who worked in technology for years and recently started her own company, Diverse City LLC, Jenn Hunter Project Manager from Microsoft, Sheen Vince Cruz a Boeing Mechanical Engineer, Annalee Herrara, a software engineer for Estately.
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The students loved hearing about each of these ladies journey’s to their current career. Some went straight to college and some found their way into successful tech careers by taking advantage of opportunities that came to them. That was one of the key messages to the students. Be bold and go out and get what you want. After the end of the panel event, every participant said that they were going to enroll in a STEM class to help them reach their career goals!
Student Takeaways:
- Finding out that women are fifty percent less likely to apply for job they don’t feel qualified for than men inspired me. I didn’t realize that women aren’t reaching out for what they want. The panel inspired me. Molly, 11th
- We should have more opportunities like this. The panel changed my point of view about technology. The women inspired me to want to be a woman in tech! Dellcia, 11th
- We got to asks questions and learn about people in the real world with real jobs who shared their experiences and struggles. Sukhmani, 12th grade
- I learned how to deal with rejection and to be more confident about my skills and qualifications. Sukeeret, 12th
- My highlight was how passionate these ladies were. It inspired me to not be afraid and to be involved and put myself out there. Aileen, 11th
