Chief Sealth High School Presentation, February 8, 2010

Hi All, We had a fantastic event yesterday at Sealth High School. There was a great turnout, every seat was taken in the library. They were very interested and excited to be at an IGNITE event. The Presenters were wonderful. Thank you to our extraordinary presenters! Thank you to Cheryl Platz, User Experience Designer, Microsoft. Cheryl is also in theatre, and makes her story fun and exciting to hear. She is such a natural at telling her story. The girls laugh and smile and clearly enjoy listening to her. Fabulous, wonderful, at connecting with the girls. Thank you Cheryl! Thank you to Noressa Calos, Program Manager, Information Security, Microsoft. Noressa grew up in Seattle, and went to Cleveland High School. She understands the girls in that unique way. Her niece attends Sealth as well and loves IGNITE!! Noressa really relates to the girls and helps them understand the kind of opportunities out there for them in technology. She inspires. Thank you Noressa for a wonderful job. Thank you to Chanvatha Sea. IGNITE alumni, Graduate Ingraham High School 2003, Program Manager, Microsoft. Chanvatha went through IGNITE and shares with the girls how much IGNITE was able to open doors for her and by taking advantage of IGNITE opportunities, she was able to find a passion in technology. She tells her story and it's just fabulous to hear. Each of you would be so proud to hear her, after all of your volunteer hours and caring you have put in IGNITE. She is such a role model and she does love coming to speak and giving back. Thank you Chanvatha for being such an exemplary role model for girls coming up behind you. And caring enough to do something important for them. Inspiration. It means everything. Thank you to Nora Duffy, longtime volunteer in IGNITE. Nora has worked for Microsoft owned companies for many years in legal, mostly Intellectual Property, a fast growing field. Many girls love legal careers and learn so much about the variety of choices there are in that field. Nora inspires them to reach high and dream big. She expressed to them the importance of continuing education, and helped them really understand why technology has great opportunities for women. Thank you Nora for all you do. Thank you to the staff at Sealth and thank you to our Career Center Specialist, Chris Syrjala. Chris has worked in so many different schools these last years and knows just what we need to make a great event for the girls. She cares so much and made sure the girls had cut up fruit, water instead of soda, and that means so much to me to get that kind of help. Thank you Chris for all you do. Thank you to Aaron Houk, Website design teacher, and Accounting. He attended the event , he is new to our district. Aaron is a great teacher and so interested in helping get more girls into technology classes at Sealth HS. I am so excited to have him on board. He is also attending the Microsoft field trip for Sealth on March 18th and the girls are so excited about that. Thank you to Assistant Principal Angie Lynette Thomas, who has worked with IGNITE at other schools in the past. And so happy to be back on board. Hopefully joining us on the Microsoft field trip. Thank you to the Principal John Boyd, who welcomes IGNITE and is so supportive of the program. Thank you to Kate Hubert, Librarian, who always makes us feel so welcome. And thank you to Atia Yousif, Asst Secretary, who is thrilled to be involved in supporting IGNITE. So many wonderful staff at Sealth supporting the program. Thank you all!