On Tuesday, October 8th, 2024, Evergreen Middle School students visited F5 Tower in Downtown Seattle to learn more about working at a technology company and meet a team of enthusiastic F5 volunteers.
The group started off with a tour of F5 Tower, including the humming server rooms, taking a seat at the board room table, and looking down at Seattle from the 48th floor. F5 Event Lead Chris Maniates shared that students could see themselves working at F5 in the labs or Customer Engagement Center.
During lunch, students engaged in a Panel and Q&A with STEM professionals, including the F5 BIG-IP GM Maggie Stringfellow and F5 Chief Product Officer Kara Sprague. Questions included:
- What is the best advice you ever received?
- When did you know that you had made it?
- How did you decide on your college major?
- How do you use AI in your work?
- I am very shy – how did you build your confidence?
- Do you get to speak other languages as part of your work?
- How do you recover from failure?
Advice from Panelists included: take challenging STEM courses but also grow your confidence by doing hard things one step at a time, celebrate failures because now you know what you need to learn, try new things and if you are nervous to try a new thing – invite a friend. Students also learned that being an immigrant or bilingual makes you even more employable in the global economy.
Thank you to all the amazing volunteers who made this event a reality, including Chris Maniates, Kris Hayes, Audrey Tseng, Maggie Stringfellow, and Kara Sprague at F5. Thank you also to educators Charissa Eggleston and Gil Simmons for bringing students to this event!
After attending this event:
100%
of students are interested in STEM
71%
of students know more about STEM career choices and the benefits of working in a STEM field
71%
of students feel more confident in pursuing STEM
75%
of students gained perspective and feel more hopeful about the future
Here’s what the students thought of the event:
“It inspired me to learn more, make my skills stronger, and do more public speaking. I learned to be persistent and advocate for myself.” – 8th grade IGNITE Student
“My favorite thing I learned today was all the different perspectives of working at F5!” – 8th grade IGNITE Student
“It was a learning experience. It was extremely fascinating learning about the STEM professionals. My favorite thing I learned today was about the immigrant STEM professionals.” – 8th grade IGNITE Student
“It made me more interested in STEM and the careers involved. I may consider signing up for more STEM programs now.” – 8th grade IGNITE Student
“We got to talk to many different people. I learned it’s OK to be different.” – 8th grade IGNITE Student
“It inspired me to know about one of the many parts of STEM and I’m interested.” – 8th grade IGNITE Student
“It was nice to learn about people’s jobs and I want to learn more about STEM.” – 8th grade IGNITE Student
“Today’s event inspired me by telling me about the people who work in STEM. The people who work here told us about the challenges they faced, and how they overcame them.” – 7th grade IGNITE Student
“I was inspired to open my mind to careers and options in work.” – 8th grade IGNITE Student
About F5:
F5 is like a superhero for the internet! They make sure websites and applications are fast, secure, and always available for you to use. Plus, they fight off bad guys trying to cause trouble online. Pretty cool, right? Learn more.
About IGNITE Program Field Trip Events:
IGNITE Field Trips offer a memorable, behind-the-scenes look at STEM in action and the wide range of career opportunities at the host company. Company employees interact directly with the students through an office tour, hands-on STEM activities, and IGNITE Panel and Q&A discussion.
About IGNITE Worldwide:
IGNITE Worldwide is a 501(c)3 nonprofit STEM education organization that aims to change gender and racial equity in STEM permanently and systematically. We work directly with teachers during the school day to provide programming that promotes gender equity and representation in STEM academics and careers. Through our award-winning program, IGNITE provides engaging, hands-on events that connect students with STEM professionals from industry leaders from around the world. Learn more at www.igniteworldwide.org.
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