Highline HS at Redfin

On Tuesday, February 13th, a group of young women from Highline HS headed downtown to Redfin's office.  Students were in awe when we arrived at the lobby.  The fancy high-tech elevators puzzled most of us as we went up to the 6th floor, where we were greeted with warm smiles. 

The girls were divided into three groups and were tasked to: come up with an idea that would help their school, design an app, and then present it to their peers.  Some of our most shy students used a microphone and shared their ideas with the group.  We had a wonderful lunch, and students heard from a panel of women, all in the field.  Bridget Frey, CTO of Redfin, shared how she has worked in places where she was the only woman on a floor of 150 men.  That shocked most of the girls, but also really resonated with them.  Haley, Emma, and Preta were also on the panel and shared great, inspiring advice. 

After this event:

 

76%
of girls are more 
interested in STEM

57%
of girls want to take a 
STEM related course next semester

81%
of students want to 
study harder and graduate

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Comments from the girls:

“I enjoyed hearing about a job I don’t usually hear about in school. From this fieldtrip, I became more interested in internship and I feel better about not knowing what I want to be when I grow up, because I can always learn multiple different things at once, then decide what’s best.”

"I liked the discussion, questions, & panel. I also liked the fact that this was an all girls field trip, especially since Redfin represents STEM subjects, so seeing all the women was empowering."

"It inspired me to go after what I want, knowing how the CTO struggled, but prevailed."

"This made me want to program my own app."

"This event helped me explore more in the tech field. Especially a project manager and/or engineer which sound like very interesting fields and possibly career paths."

"I learned about how different opportunities are offered through high school, and what’s available for high school student.”

"I saw how internships can help in colleges and science is awesome!!"

"I heard that you don’t necessarily have to know what career path you want to go in, take a lot of opportunities"

"This trip motivates me a lot to be a better student"

"I saw how people work together to solve the problem"

“I enjoyed hearing about a job I don’t usually hear about in school. From this fieldtrip, I became more interested in internship and I feel better about not knowing what I want to be when I grow up, because I can always learn multiple different things at once, then decide what’s best.”

"This event inspired me to look at tech differently."