For this event at Microsoft several of the girls who attended decided to write letters 🙂 To read a full event report click here.Â
Dear IGNITE & Microsoft,
Thank you for hosting the IGNITE Women in Engineering event on April 20th. It was really cool! and fun. Using Simple Basic was interesting. It was different from what I am used when it comes to coding. We use codehs at school. It’s a website to learn coding languages. Simple Basic has a different way of teaching you how to code and it has a different format. I would like to use it again. Ilene was at our table. She was really nice and pretty funny and very helpful. Thanks for helping me to code. And thank you Salma for the suggestion about the random colors! It looked so pretty with the random colors. Also, Stacy keep doing what you are doing because it’s so cool! I hope I get to play some of your games one day!
Also, thanks for the lunch! It was pretty good! The panel was just amazing! It inspired me to continue following my dreams. So, thank you. All of you! I am gender fluid non-straight person Latino. So, I was discouraged already. But you guys reassured me. Thanks. I owe you. Even though this is mandatory. I feel glad I’m sending you a letter. It reminds me about how I could achieve my dreams during hard times. So, thank you! (Jeez I should saying thank you a lot it’s getting very odd)
From,
Nicole C,8th Grade
Dear IGNITE & Microsoft,
Thank you for hosting   the IGNITE Woman in Engineering event on April 20 2017. Both the events were very fun. Christy, I want to thank you for teaching us how to code. When I was there, that was the first time I coded. I also want to thank Myra for helping me when I got stuck and when I fell behind. I don’t take any tech classes at school, and I thought tech was very boring. But coming to your program, made me change my opinion on tech activities. I think I gained a hobby.
I also want to thank you guys for both the panel talks. The one that was at my school, really started to change my views on tech and it also made me want to learn more and go on the Microsoft field trip. Overall I have changed my views on tech and all the branches (in a good way). Oh and thanks for the lunch! Thanks for everything!
Sincerely,
Journee Cherry, 8th Grade
Dear Microsoft,
Thank you for taking the time for letting me come to your company I really appreciate it. I had an amazing time there. My favorite part of all was the coding with Shellie. She made it very interesting for me and even for my friend who had never done coding before and kept thinking she would be behind but actually she really handled it very well, in the addition she liked coding and it wasn’t that hard after all. Also I would like to say the visitor room is AMAZING! I love how it was set up I really enjoyed the big screen dance section me and my friends had a great time I never ever saw my friends smile  that big before and I also want to thank you for that.
In addition thank you for providing food for us I know it must’ve cost a lot and I hope we repaid you will our smiles and presence. I hope you have Broadview Thomson 8th graders come back next time. I bet the next 8th graders will have just as an amazing time as us. Last thing is thank you Ignite volunteers who talked about their career paths and how they got to Microsoft. I realized I can relax more because you can get anywhere if you just push and don’t listen to anyone who says you can’t do something.
Thank you Microsoft sincerely –
Kamilah Wallen – Craig, 8th grader
Dear IGNITE & Microsoft
Thank you for hosting the IGNITE  event on April 20th. What I liked about the coding was that it was simple enough that if you never did code before you could still be able to code. I also liked that the code had various things you could do to make various patterns and shape. Also during lunch, I liked how there the women that worked at Microsoft sat at the tables and talked about their jobs and asked students what they were interested in (at the table I was at, I don’t know about the other tables). And there was a woman at my table that work on the animations for Halo and that got me more interested in animating for videogames.
Thank you for providing lunch. What I liked about the panel talked was that Kristy, Myra, Maricella, llene, Stacy, Salma and Jay all came from all different backgrounds but they had some things that were similar which I thought was really cool. Also, that hearing that some of them got into Microsoft in different ways. What I found really interesting was that some of them came from families that didn’t have much money and they were able to get into Microsoft not because of their family background but because they persevered to work hard. One last thing I liked about this experience is that throughout this experience they kept it interactive with both the women that worked at Microsoft, and helping and teaching more about code and the various jobs that are in the technology world.
Sincerely,
Jaeda Holler, 8th Grade
Dear IGNITE & Microsoft,
Thank you for hosting the IGNITE  event on April 20th. I liked using Simple Basic because it had some smart features and if you messed up, it told you what line you messed up on. I would use it again and plan to download it and use it. I think it’s a great program where you could mess around and try different things or really create something interesting. Ilene sat down and helped us if we had trouble. She talked to us about how she got to Microsoft and what she did in middle school and high school that got her interested in Computer Science. Thank you for providing lunch for us. That was a nice thought from you guys.
I really liked Stacy’s story because she didn’t have a lot of money and her father wasn’t exactly supporting, but she still managed to make it into the Computer Science field. She had some difficult times but now she has her company and does the things she likes to do. I didn’t know that technology was so diverse. Myra is from Brazil and Salma is from Turkey. I thought that that was really interesting. I liked the idea of different cultures working together to make something they share a passion for. This really motivated me to start a career in the Computer Science Field. This is an experience I’ll never forget.
Sincerely,
Ariana Santos E., 8th Grade
One Thing I learned while visiting Microsoft is that when you are getting interviewed, you are also interviewing the boss. They might be interviewing you to see if you are fit for the job but you are interviewing the boss to see if they are fit enough to be your boss, so it’s really all about confidence. To stand out in applications and resumes you would need to be a good writer, you have to persuade them to bring you in to get interviewed. Claim you are the best and prove to them you are the best and why they should pick you instead of the others who applied for the job, prove to them you are the best
I want to become a business woman so I would need my bachelors and master’s degree along with a grad in coding, those all take 8 years to get so I would have worked for it and need to be proud of what I achieved. To stand out in this career path would be harder for me because there is only around 15-25% of females in this industry but will also need to be determined and never take no for answer, also many jobs would be wanting me to work for them which is good because I have choices to where I want to work at. Since there isn’t much females in this industry there would be lots of challenge would need to face as an African American young lady but I would need to shut the negativity out and do what I love best.
-Anonymous, 8th Grade