Panel at Ingraham High School

 

20 students from Ingraham High School participated in an IGNITE Panel on Thursday December 6th, 2018. The panel was comprised of women from Amazon, Google, Catchpoint, SAP Concur, Tableau, and Microsoft. The students had the opportunity to meet women working in the STEM field. Students were encouraged by the panelist to follow their passion and explore what they are good at.

 

Students got to ask questions of the panelists, some of which included:

  • What is the biggest challenge you have had working in the STEM fields?
  • What is the best thing about working in the Tech field?
  • What can you do to prepare for these fields?
  • If you are a more introverted person how can you practice self promotion?

 

Advice from the panelist included:

  • Don’t take no for an answer
  • Promote yourself and an be proud of yourself
  • Take care of yourself and your mental health
  • Don’t volunteer to be the note-taker at a business meeting that is majority male
  • Network, network, and network some more
  • Love yourself because no company will, at the end of the day business is business
  • Create a Linkedin and Twitter profile
  • Explore Slack Channels
  • Seek opportunities to learn more about the tech industry through programs like Digi Girls, Grace Hopper and internships

 

Thank you to all speakers who made this event happen, we appreciate you volunteering your time to inspire girls at Ingraham!

After attending this event:

95%

of girls/non-binary students are more interested in STEM

71%

of girls/non-binary students want to continue attending IGNITE events 

71%

of girls/non-binary students want to study harder to attend college and further their education

Here’s what the students had to say:

 

“It was really cool to learn about people’s favorite experiences from their technology careers. It was also cool to learn that you don’t necessarily have to program or code to work for a tech company.”

–  10th grade

 

“I was inspired to start learning about careers and internship/job shadow opportunities.”

–  9th grade

 

 

“I liked learning about all the different tech-related fields that there are that pertain to a variety of different skills and passions.”

–  11th grade

 

“Seeing the technology that people have been working on. I was inspired to try to find an internship, because I repeatedly heard that was a good opportunity/way to see what you really want to do.”

–  10th grade

 

 

“I thought it was really interesting to see what paths have led people to technology fields. I really appreciated hearing people in different parts of the industry talk about ways to get involved. Seeing how each of them stuck with what they were doing, even if they were told no, made me realize that you just have to follow your passion and stick with what you want to do.”

–  10th grade

 

“Hearing the speaker’s advice about being a woman in a male-dominated field (and working in general) was valuable– it was also interesting to hear about all the different possible careers within the industry.”

–  11th grade

 

 

“I really enjoyed hearing all of the women’s stories about their experiences as women in tech.”

–  12th grade

 

“I really enjoyed seeing these women make it in a career that is dominated by males.”

–  11th grade