HI All,

We had a fantastic event at Cleveland HS. It was sensational for so many reasons. First we had a turnout of about 100 girls. Wow!! They just kept streaming in, more and more girls. That was outstanding. Then we had an exceptional panel of women who kept the girls mesmerized with their stories and passionate advice. You could hear a pin drop! And then we had such a exceptional question and answer session which lead to many girls staying later to continue a discussion. There were so many girls who had questions and who wanted to talk to the women more, so the women so graciously stayed longer so no questions would go unanswered. It is the way I always hope our events go, with women and girls connecting in ways that inspire young women, and you can see it happening right before your eyes. All of this happened at yesterday's event. Each women really spoke passionately about their story, their obstacles and how hard work is needed, and rewarded with exciting and interesting careers. They all exemplified success and showed the girls that hard work pays off and if they paid attention and carefully picked careers, the pay off can be a very bright future. It was truly an exciting and inspiring 2 hours.

I want to thank the wonderful women who presented yesterday. Thank you to Susan Pai, Investigator, Microsoft, Norresa Calos, Program Manager, Microsoft and graduate from Cleveland HS!!! (that was very exciting for the girls to have a Microsoft woman who graduated from Cleveland!) Cathy Swenson, IT software development engineer, Linda Thomas, Safety Engineer, Boeing and the Governor of the Society of Women Engineer for the Pacific Northwest,(thank you Linda for bringing such wonderful gifts for the girls, goodies galore) Marta Smith, Software Tester and Program Manager, Microsoft, and Natalia Burina, Software Developer, Intelius. You all did such an amazing job capturing the girls imaginations. To help them see and believe in all the possibilities for their future. It was an honor for me to hear all of you speak and be a part of this inspiring session.

I want to thank the very special teacher who worked so hard to put this all together. WE are so fortunate to have him teaching at Cleveland H.S Thank you to David Friedle, Technology teacher. Someone who deeply cares about the kids and their futures. That is obvious to anyone who knows him. It is such a pleasure to work with you. That was great teamwork! I want to thank the very special Principal Wayne Floyd. He really supports IGNITE in every way. We didn't know it would be finals week and so Wayne had to appeal to the teachers for us to go ahead with our event. He knows how much IGNITE means to the girls, and that women arranged their schedules to be away from work, so Wayne went above and beyond to make it possible for us to go ahead with the event. I could not possibly thank him enough for the kind of support he offers IGNITE. We are so fortunate to have him as Principal at Cleveland HS.

I did manage to get some survey forms completed. It was not possible to get all the girls to do surveys due to so many girls and pizza and bells going off, it was just impossible to focus on that for this session. But I did manage to get some surveys from the girls who stayed late, many kept coming back after lunch, it was amazing. I talked to girls after the event, girls who have just gotten to this country and so excited about these opportunities.. We talked a lot about getting the Digigirlz applications in, so I am hoping we have girls from Cleveland going this summer! Here are some comments. .

• My favorite part was how the women came here today and told us a history about how they all got started in this business and I think it was a great presentation and experience and I learned something new.
• I learned that even though they failed on a couple of things that they still accomplished there goals to their future and I think that its wonderful it just keeps on motivating me.
• Just keep on doing what you are doing because it kept my eyes open.
• I learned that I can do or achieve something like this. I could get to travel in these careers.
• I learned to give your best in everything!
• I learned about opportunities for my future.
• I loved getting to ask questions of the panel.
• I found out that you can study anything and still be in a field of technology.
• All the women and how many of them had different backgrounds was the best part. It was surprising that they were in the technology field. IGNITE program is a good opportunity for many young women and girls.
• I liked learning about all the interesting jobs in these companies. Also how these women told their stories about their way to success and how we can get to where we want to be in life.
• How there are so many kinds of jobs openings at Microsoft and other companies everyday and like thousands of jobs.
• I liked to see the women involved in technical jobs coming to my school to speak to us about their jobs trying to influence us to do something with our lives that is important.
• I loved the different perspectives presented.
• I liked how each one of you told us about your jobs and the kinds of things you get to do.
• I thought it was interesting to hear about the women's careers and learning more about IGNITE.
• From today's event I liked how there were people there to answer our questions and I liked how there were so many giving information that was educational.
• Everything today was interesting.
• I learned that Microsoft needs more women in their business and I could be one of them. I thought it was great.
• I learned a lot about technical careers and I want to go to Digigirlz camp. Thank you a lot!
• I loved hearing the guest speakers stories. It was great :) I want to learn more about IGNITE and DO more activities.
• I got lots of info today!
• I really liked the program today because I get to learn about careers and what is out there. It was great.

Thank you all for making this possible.
Cathi