Panel at Chief Sealth International High School

 

December 4, 2019 | IGNITE Panel at Chief Sealth International High School | by Becky Horst

At a Dec. 4 IGNITE event at Chief Sealth International High School, a very large and eager group of students enjoyed lunch while being inspired by an amazing panel of women to follow their dreams!

The diversity of the room, both in the seats and on the stage, was fantastic to see. The students really appreciated seeing smart, powerful, and funny women who look like them in managerial positions at large local technology companies. The panel consisted of four women from diverse backgrounds and varying positions within local firms: Jigna Patel, founder of the consulting firm La Morisyenne LLC; Claudia Ohashi, manager of Video Operations at T-Mobile; Rinu Budhbhatti, Senior Software Engineer at Grab Technology; and India Buckley, Software Engineer II at Microsoft.

These amazing women told their stories about how they got to where they are today, struggles and barriers they overcame, and what their current jobs entail. Several of the women talked about dealing with microaggressions in their first jobs and how they learned to grow from these challenges. Also, they discussed how great it felt to work through their failures and challenges to find success – like in college, writing code that FINALLY worked!

The stories were incredible and inspiring! The Chief Sealth girls asked amazing questions, stayed late to chat with the panelists, and went away with a renewed passion (or new passion) for STEM careers!

From all of us at Chief Sealth, THANK YOU to Jigna, Claudia, Rinu, and India for volunteering your time and making this such a memorable experience! We look forward to more visits by more amazing women!  Way to inspire the next generation of young women, IGNITE!

After attending this event:

92%

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

76%

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

Here's what the students enjoyed most:

 

"The panel telling how they got into the STEM careers they're in. I want to take risks in college and check it out too. I enjoyed it very much. The stories are always exciting and interesting."

- 9th grade

 

"How you should do whatever makes you happy, and don't have fear in what you want just because you are female. Everything was amazing and inspiring!"

- 10th grade

 

"All of them were someone that I'm looking toward for my future. They were talking about computer science - that's what I'm interested in, and they motivated me to learn more about computer science."

- 10th grade

 

"My highlight from today's event is that the 4 ladies had interesting stories that made me feel comfortable about what I want to become."

- 9th grade

 

"Hearing the stories of vastly uncomfortable situations these people had to put themselves through to get where they are and how they overcame those experiences."

- 11th grade

 

"I liked listening to everyone's life story in their majors. This event inspired me to work hard and continue with my goals."

- 10th grade

 

"I enjoyed their stories about their journey to get where they are. It made me feel more ready for the future."

- 10th grade

 

"I loved the advice they gave us. It was really simple but needed, at least for me, so thank you everyone! I really liked everything about it."

- 10th grade

 

"The women's history. It shows me I can do things I didn't think possible."

- 11th grade

 

"Hearing about their experiences as women of color in engineering. It was great!"

- 12th grade

 

"I liked how they incorporated that it's okay to not know what you want."

- 9th grade

 

"I liked Claudia's speech. Start doing what you like, don't wait for people to do something."

- 11th grade

 

"It inspired me to try new things like they did. It doesn't matter if you are scared, just try it."

- 11th grade

 

"The things the panel faced and how they got to where they're at today really inspired me."

- 9th grade

 

"I liked that they all shared their experiences with us and that they tried to motivate us to succeed."

- 12th grade

 

"How they got through all the bad things and that they are successful women!"

- 9th grade

 

"How they explained that they can overcome any problem they've faced."

- 9th grade

 

"What inspired me was how they all worked hard to get the job they wanted. I enjoyed listening to all their stories."

- 9th grade

 

"I enjoyed hearing about everyone's perspectives and careers, also their achievements. It was perfect :)"

- 10th grade

 

"I like how they have the courage to come and talk to us about their past and what they did to get where they are."

- 10th grade

 

"I like that there were different perspectives and personalities. The advice helped inspire me."

- 10th grade

 

"I enjoyed how they talked about what they do as a job and shared part of their life story. It inspired me about empowerment of women."

- 11th grade

 

"Don't give up, accept challenges, be yourself, listen to yourself."

- 10th grade

 

"I like the fact that it didn't affect them that they were the only women in their teams."

- 12th grade

 

"What I enjoyed the best is that they came here from work to just get more females involved."

- 10th grade

 

"How powerful all the women were!"

- 11th grade

 

"It took time for them to get to where they are."

- 10th grade