Hi All,

We had a fantastic event at Franklin HS on Tuesday. It was an amazing turnout, with about 80 young women showing up!! Also we had an incredible group of presenters, so it made for a super, wonderful, IGNITE event!!

I want to thank all the people who made this possible.

Thank you to all the great presenters who were there for this event. You were all so wonderful, connecting to all the young women and making it truly what we hope for at an IGNITE event, an intimate and inspiring connection between the young women and the wonderful women who inspire them.

Thank you to Nora Duffy (Intellectual Property Manager - Avanade), Marta Smith, (Lead Test Manager - Microsoft), Martine Worrall (Mechanical Engineer - Synapse), Julia Fallon (IT in Education - Dept. of Education, Washington State), Tam Hubert (Program Manager - Microsoft), and welcome to Megan Reardon (Undergraduate Advisor for the Computer Science and Engineering Program - UW), and Carolyn Holmes (Student in the Computer Science Program - UW). It was a pleasure and so wonderful for the students to learn more about the program at the University of Washington and we hope to have you come to many of our IGNITE events in the future. You all did such a fabulous job in connecting with the students, and it was so amazing that most students elected to stay an extra 45 minutes to continue the session.

I want to thank the great and wonderful Cisco, A+ Certification, Academy of Finance, and many other hats, teacher Barbara Lynch, who spends endless hours recruiting and supporting the IGNITE program. Each of the young women in her classes were invited and attended this event, along with other students in the school. Thank you Barbara for all the time and attention you give to make sure the IGNITE message is alive and well at Franklin High school. Thank you to Betty Ferris, who supports Barbara and IGNITE in any way we need and is always there with a smile and a helping hand.

Thank you to Damaris Pearson (Career Center Specialist), who also works very hard to support the IGNITE program and invites students from all around the school through much advertising of our events.

As all of you can see it takes many of us to make this possible and certainly worth our time and effort as you will see from the young women's comments below. They always say it best.

• Today's event had a lot of information. The speakers were very inspiring and it was interesting to hear about their jobs.
• I liked how all the guest speakers gave detailed descriptions of their fields. You guys did a great job. The most interesting thing I heard today was not to take no for an answer.
• Everything was good and I learned a lot.
• I loved the story Martine told us.
• I think the speakers were a big help for those of us who are undecided about what we want to do.
• I was happy to hear that you can be at all levels of math skills and still go for it. I really learned a lot about becoming an Engineer and the longer you stay in a field the more money you can make. I want to see an Engineering company.
• I learned a lot of information that I did not know.
• I liked how many different jobs there were to learn about.
• I liked learning more about Engineering because I did not know anything about it.
• Learning about different careers was good for me.
• I liked hearing about the different opportunities and information given to us. I also liked hearing from Ms Lynch about the different classes that are here at school under our own noses.
• I like the list on the What is IGNITE? sheet. I can see that I want to do all of it.
• I found everything that was brought up very useful. I had no idea that a career in Engineering was so hip. I am now interested in pursuing a degree in that field.
• I found that the demand for more women was interesting.
• I liked the guest speakers enthusiasm about their work. WE should have more events like this. the most interesting thing I heard today was how the guests did in school, and how they got to where they are today. It was great.
• I liked listening to people's jobs, what I could do. I would like to do more of this kind of thing.
• I liked everything about today's event, because we all got to know the information.
• The most interesting thing was learning about Computer Science.
• I learned that women from different backgrounds are capable of being successful in the Computer Science department. It gave me hope.
• I liked all the speakers talks and how they got started at where they are now. I think it would be better if we were in rows.
• The most interesting thing is that some women didn't have a technical degree and still worked for a technical company, it was interesting. I want to do more of this.
• What I liked about today's event was that the speakers told a lot of stories about how they became successful and did it in all different ways. I learned about the Cisco program and want to know more about that. I want to do a job shadow now.
• I liked the presenters that were here to tell about their personal experiences.
• I really liked how they explained what it is like really, and told us the real story. Some of the women had a really hard time and made it anyway.
• I enjoyed the presentation, listening to the guest speakers personal experiences. I loved hearing about technology and Engineering. It was great.
• I liked listening to the different experiences of the guest speakers. I would like more interactions with them. I would love to hear more of this.
• I liked that you can connect any career to IT and to financial success. I learned that there are different routes into any career. That was very interesting.
• I liked how the speakers told their stories on how they got to where they are and gave advice and encouraged us to reach our goals.
• The most interesting thing I heard today was that you can do anything that you want even though you know nothing about it right now. I want more of these meetings and discussions.
• I loved all of it. I liked the presentation from all the different women. It made me want to be an engineer. I think I liked what the intern from the UW said because I think I'll consider it more maybe if they spoke more about these careers. Everything was great, and fun. I want to learn more about Computer Science, Information Systems, Microbiology, Aerospace, and Engineering. All of it.
• Everything was fun and it was all great.
• I think that the most interesting part is each person's described their jobs.
• We covered a lot of my questions which was really nice. I enjoyed the discussion and I am interested in more.
• I liked when everyone encouraged me to consider more than what I am limited to.
• I thought it was interesting that women want to make technology better. I want to see and attend any other IGNITE events.
• I loved listening to different stories of success and connecting with the women.
• I learned that I can have a job combining technology and business. That is great.
• I learned a lot of facts that I did not know.

As you all can see it was a great experience and it is so satisfying to hear how we connected with the young women in this way. It is possible because all of you want to make a difference and you do.

Thank you all for making this possible.

Sincerely,
Cathi
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