October 29, 2019 | IGNITE Panel at Graham-Kapowsin High School | by Kelly Woyak, Career & College Readiness Specialist
On Oct. 29, girls at Graham-Kapowsin High School had a great time learning about IGNITE, learning about the journeys of some amazing professional women, and learning about the future of women in STEM careers. It was refreshing to hear that we are evolving to continue to be more accepting of women in technology and STEM, and more and more companies are inviting the diversity of experience, personality, and ways of thinking.
Our professional speakers were:
- Kelly Rodriguez, Partner Development at Skykick
- Leslie Pedro, Software Engineer at Upbound
- Lauri Bingham, Director/Technology PMO at T-Mobile
- Alyssa Woodliff, Salesforce and Project Manager at T-Mobile
The panelists shared what they were thinking when they were the students’ age, their education paths, how education helped to shape their career pathways, and how they ended up in their careers. It was important to note that everyone’s journey is different and that creating a support network and building relationships with people is key to success in any field. It was also brought to light that you can work in STEM/technology careers in any company, so you can choose a company that does something you are passionate about and provide technical support in a variety of ways. The sky’s the limit!
Through the panel, our students realized some major benefits of technology work, including the ability to work from home, travel, and employ a high level of creativity. With anything, it is important to advocate for yourself, and the panelists illustrated that the STEM world demands that advocacy. The biggest takeaways from today’s presentation were:
Be Curious
Be Adventurous
Be Intentional
Thank you to Kelly, Leslie, Lauri, and Alyssa for taking time out of your busy schedules to share your stories with our young women here at GKHS. It was a great event to launch our IGNITE programming this year!