On March 30th 60 young women scholars from the Federal Way School Districts Decatur and Federal Way High Schools and Seattle schools visited Microsoft. They were lead in a coding lesson by Sweety Chauhan and other amazing Microsoft professional women in technology. They also had the opportunity to meet in small groups and share lunch and some mentoring with Prarthana Kamath, Sandhy Komaragiri, Jenny Ferried, Archana Iyer and some other amazing women from Microsoft. This group of students were mostly 9th and 10th graders and were excited to return to school and meet with their counselors and sign up for some STEM and Career and Technical Education classes that will help them better prepare for their future.
Every participant reported that the program opened their eyes to opportunities they did not know were available to them. Their favorite part of the day was hearing each of the Microsoft women different paths to their career in technology.
Here is some direct feedback from the young women scholars in Federal Way Schools:
“I gained a greater understanding of where/when/how and why for different career paths. I am also one who is confused on what I want to do/be – now not fearful! Hearing others stories was inspiring to me.” Drew – 9th grader
“I honestly enjoyed everything about today. It was nice to hear all of this information and it made me interesting in working at Microsoft. I love how open everyone was” Melanie – 9th grader
“This event was just amazing and fun. I would love to come back and get to talk with more people at Microsoft. Possibly seeing if coding is something I can do as a living” Alondra – 9th grader
“What inspired me was learning how many options there are in the tech world” Mallyshia 9th grade
“This event was perfect” Maria – 10th grade
Summary:
100% reported that they want to come to all IGNITE events.
100% reported that they were going to investigate taking STEM classes next semester.
Thank you to Ed Price and his wonderful team at Microsoft to host this life-changing event. Thank you to Cathi Rodgveller and her IGNITE team for making these inspiring event possible for young women.
What an incredible day at Microsoft! Your mentoring and willingness to share shows these girls what they are capable of, hearing about your journey encourages them on their own path and inspires them to discover and peruse new opportunities. You make IGNITE successful and we sincerely thank you for it!
Some quotes from the girls in Seattle Schools about what they liked best at this event:
- The whole event inspired me a lot to do computer science.
- I enjoyed the different stories everyone shared.
- I loved the stories and it got me more interested in tech.
- There is not just one generic way to end up where you want to be.
- The Panel with the current employees was great.
- Talking to women who worked there and what they liked about their jobs.
- Hearing about all the women’s different and unique experiences.
- Learning more about coding and how it works.
- I really enjoyed learning to code and I was really inspired to investigate STEM.
- Programming at the beginning and how all the women began their start in tech.
- Learning to code was really interesting!
- Inspiring hearing different stories.
