Hi All,

We had an amazing event at Microsoft. It was sponsored by Microsoft, specifically Celia Morant. We want to thank her for all of her support and for making this day possible. Celia supports IGNITE with all her heart, and we are so fortunate to have her.

I want to thank Senator Cantwell for being at the IGNITE conference. Her speech was such an inspiration to all of us. It was clear to me that she understands deeply what we are doing and why. She has assured me that she will be continuing her support of IGNITE for our state and our country. I feel deeply grateful to have her support. It was such an inspiration to me to understand that she believes in the work we do in IGNITE and wants to see it expand to all middle schools, high schools and colleges in our country. That certainly will help us all in our work to accomplish that goal.

I want to thank Raelene Sanders, my Microsoft partner in this conference and many other IGNITE events. Raelene worked tirelessly in her efforts to make this event the very best it could be. She worked and worked and worked. She is an amazing woman, and I often wonder how she does it all. Thank you Raelene, you make it so easy and fun to do anything that we do together, and you are such an inspiration to me each and every day, I could not say enough about Raelene, words cannot describe her dedication and commitment to the IGNITE mission. I just want you all to get some idea of how much time and energy she devotes to making IGNITE a success. Thank you !!!!!!!

I want to thank our wonderful volunteers who made this day special. Each one of you puts in your special style and love, and that is why we create that energy and success that we do. Thank you to Lori Longthorne, who made the room look beautiful, the center pieces made us all smile on such a cloudy day, it looked like sunshine when we walked into the room. Lori puts in time and love behind the scenes, so often, I want to thank her for all the many things she does too. Thank you to the wonderful volunteers who helped me handle the many details it takes to put on an event. Thank you to Ani Manjikian,Techie in charge of ppts and videos, and website, what a great job Ani, I could not do any of this without you day in and day out, Larisa Golden, registration and toolkits with a smile, Shelly Staloch, registration and name tags done with love, Lani Bonadea, my daughter, microphone runner and timekeeper always with love and smiles, Justine Vick, everything, and everywhere, fixing tables and whatever we needed with love and smiles, Marla Mingee, photographer smiling all day, and seeming to be everywhere at once, snapping pictures for our history book, and they will be on the website soon. Allison Miller, written materials done with style and love always.

I want to thank Carola Dopps for doing such a wonderful job in her segment discussion on the Gender Chip Project. Carola used the Gender Chip project to help us form a discussion around the issues young women have when they choose non-traditional careers. Gender Chip project is a video following 4 young women for 4 years of their lives from high school to college and what that journey is like for them focusing on their non-traditional career choices. The discussion really helped our conference attendees to have a chance to discuss what these issues bring out in them and their feelings about them. Carola did such a great job. Thank you so much for all your help. If you want to read more, go to genderchip.org.

I want to thank all of our very special speakers who made the day wonderful. I teared up many times throughout the day listening to them talk about their experiences in IGNITE. Always done with such love and commitment each time. To our wonderful IGNITE women, Raelene Sanders Lori Longthorne, Linda Thomas, Juzen Ruelos, Nora Duffy,and Marta Smith.

Thank you to all the special teacher and students who shared their stories and made this day so special. Dan Norton-Middaugh, Roosevelt HS, Karl Ruff, Roosevelt HS, and Barbara Cummins, Information Technology teacher Ingraham HS, Ret, and the wonderful students, Vicki Ho, Expedia.com, Manh Duong, AP Financial, and Alice Yeh, MIT. I wanted to thank Kelly Elston, who wanted to be there but had a family emergency and was with us with her heart. I was really crying after they spoke, because when I hear it from students, its the thing that always makes me know why I work so hard!

Thank you to my special guest and boss, Shep Siegel, Manager Career and Technical Education, Seattle Public Schools, and the person who has supported and believed in IGNITE all these years, and pays my salary!

Thank you to Mickey Pierce, who did the Call to Action, and helped the educators become inspired to begin their ignite chapters around the state. What energy and dedication! Thank you Mickey.

You can all see how many people cared so much to spend a precious Saturday supporting IGNITE. You are all very special people and the leaders for our next generation of young people to look up to and learn to dream big! Many supporters were there to help and support this event. I want you to know how much I appreciate you. That is why we all work so hard, we can change our young people's minds about these careers and know they can have a future filled with their dreams coming true, These careers will change many lives and whole families lives. It is the investment in our future, our country and our kids. That is what keeps us going. I want to share some comments from the evaluation forms below, so you all can see what people thought and felt about the day.

Thank you all,
Cathi

• Senator Cantwell's speech was amazing.
• The agenda was very well organized. Guest speakers and coverage of various topics.
• Very inspirational!
• Very great event, looking forward to another one next year!
• Hearing from students was great!
• Was well done, loved hearing personal stories.
• Senator Cantwell's support was so appreciated.
• Success stories, students panel, all very good!
• All of this was quite good!
• I would have loved to ask the panels questions.
• Hearing the adults talk about the differences their mentors had made in their lives career wise as well as deep friendships, that was the highlight for me.
• It was insightful hearing them point out how they didn't start out in technology careers but how their careers are not connected with technology.
• All were very passionate about their experiences with IGNITE, the good it is doing for young girls, while at the same time being role models for giving back to our communities.
• I thought listening to the girls and teachers speak was awesome. Got me choked up.
• Can't get much better then Maria Cantwell, Nice job. Great field trip comments from Barbara and other teachers, They are amazing.!
• Great job is inspiring to get involved. Excellent!!
• Personal stories, message of empowerment. All fantastic, Everyone spoke from their hearts. Thank you for the invitation
• Networking with fellow teachers, community members. Great to see my Senator!!
• Great conference! Keep supporting our CTE teachers!!
• I liked the combination of speeches, panels and interactions.
• All of it! Excellent! wonderful! yearly conference, proud to be a part of IGNITE.
• Talking to the people at my table and hearing the wonderful speakers was the best!
• You made very good points, gave me things to think about and bring back to my program.
• Good speakers all around. I liked hearing from all the categories of people and students, educators, and industry workers. Gave a good overall perspective. I wished we had one more hour,
• Student Reflections, Teacher perspective and presentation panel,. all amazing women and people, wonderful to hear from the women on the presentation panel, all great. Maria Cantwell, wow.
• Very inspiring.
• Listening to how IGNITE effected students lives, was great. great food.
• Senator's Speech was awesome! An impressive group of students , educators and volunteers who have wonderful stories which reminded the need for programs like IGNITE. Senator Cantwell's commitment was refreshing and appreciated.

Pictures of the Event