Report on IGNITE @ Digipen March 16, 2010

We had a fabulous day at Digipen! We had 24 girls from sixth and seventh grade and one girl from 8th grade. They had a great time. We had so many women from Microsoft attend and they did such a wonderful job with the girls. Some of the women participated in the game creating session, each one took a team of girls. And some of the women spoke on the lunchtime panel. I want to thank all of the volunteers. First I want to thank Digipen's Sean Harris, Outreach Coordinator, who set up this day for us. Sean invites us to come to Digipen as much as we want. He gives us lots of great information about these careers in game design, and helps the girls see how to prepare for careers in this field. He makes us feel extremely welcome. It is great to work with him. Thank you Sean! I also want to thank Angela Kugler, who is a longtime supporter and IGNITE volunteer. Angela is active on our ignite list and helped support our event yesterday. She bought the girls lunch and welcomes IGNITE at Digipen. Thank you Angela. Thank you to all of the Microsoft women who attended yesterdays' event. Many of the women work in X-Box too. It was great to see the women jump right in and help guide the girls in developing a game. Sean gave the girls choices with either dice or playing cards, or both. They had to come up with a game and then teach it to another team. The girls were creative and enjoyed figuring out a game. It was so helpful to have our adult mentors in each group, guiding, and encouraging the girls to try new ideas and be creative. Thank you to Laura Hamilton, Senior Content Publisher; Katie Stone Perez, Executive Producer;, Yan Zhong,Program Manager; and Whitney Hills, Editor and Independent Designer; in joining the game creation session. I could tell they had a great time and really made this a fun experience. Katie and Laura led the girls in processing the game session in such a Masterful way. It was like they had been working with girls for years. They were able to help the girls see what was important in creating a game, mostly working on a team, communication and helping lead people. Thank you Katie and Laura, it was really something to see. Just perfect. Thank you to all the Microsoft women who attended the lunch session and told the girls their story. We also had a great discussion time with the girls, where they got to ask questions and the women answered them. The girls asked great questions. Thank you to Katie Stone-Perez, Executive Producer; Laura Hamilton, Senior Content Publisher; Dona Sarkar, Senior Test Lead: Beatriz Diaz Acosta, Senior Test Lead; Emily Eder, Program Manager; Manisha Patel, Program Manager; Bronwyn McNutt, Editor; and Juzen Ruelos, Senior Business Analyst Manager. You were all amazing. Thank you so much for making this event special. Thank you to Emma Hong, School Counselor and IGNITE chapter leader at Broadview Thomson K-8. Emma makes is so easy and really works hard to make sure the girls get these opportunities. Thank you Emma for all you do. Thank you to Principal Wyeth Jesse, who supports the IGNITE program at the school and wants the girls to get these opportunities and works so hard to make sure it happens. Here are the comments from the girls' survey forms. What I liked best, was learning that even if you are a girl/woman, you can do anything you want to do. The most interesting thing I heard today is that girls can do anything you want to do. The best part was designing the game and having fun. The most interesting thing I heard today was that you can make phones and tiny model cars. What I enjoyed best was making the game because it was creative and interactive. I also enjoyed talking to all the women in technological jobs. I learned that less that 15 percent of people in technology jobs are women. I liked hearing from people who were in jobs that they enjoy. The most interesting thing I learned was that less than 15 percent of people in technology are women and I think that is sad. The lunch was great. I thought making the game was very cool and fun. I learned that it takes about a year to make a video game. I loved making the game, it was my favorite part. The most interesting thing I heard was that the women actually liked their jobs and that the company pays for them to travel. I loved making the games and getting advice from the women. I enjoyed hearing about the different jobs. What I liked best was the discussion with the women during lunch because they taught us a lot about Microsoft. The most interesting thing I heard was that employees get to travel with Microsoft. What I liked best was meeting the people and doing the workshop. And the most interesting thing I heard today was that you can travel the world when you work for Microsoft. What I liked best was designing a game. And the most interesting thing was that only 10 percent of women work in tech. I liked the food and drink and everything. It was interesting to hear how much money you can make at Microsoft. I liked how you explained what was going on. And I really liked making and playing our own games. I liked when the women explained their lives. I would like to make a real video game. We can go once a month. I liked learning about women being able to travel in their jobs. I learned that less than 10 percent of women are engineers. What I liked best that we could meet women and talk to them, and make games and have fun. It was interesting to learn that there are not enough women in technology careers. I really liked learning about women traveling for their jobs. What I liked best was getting to meet all of those women who work at Microsoft. I thought it was so interesting that one of the women speaks 5 languages. What I liked best was EVERYTHING! I learned that if I go to Ingraham HS there is a an Academy of Information Technology and also do IGNITE. I loved making our own game with dice. I learned that there are so few women in technology. What I liked best was creating our own game. The most interesting thing is that there are so few women in technology. What I liked best was making a game and pizza. I learned that creating a game is not easy. What I liked best was making a game up. And the most interesting thing I learned today was that people can travel for their jobs. And that it can be hard coming up with a game. Thank you all for making this very special day possible. Sincerely, Cathi

Photos from the event: