HI All

We had a wonderful event at Franklin HS. It was such a great event from beginning to end, We had a very interested and focused group of young women, probably at least 50, who were all really happy to be there. They stayed from 10:40-12:10 and that amount of time allowed us to fit in everything, presenters stories, Happy Birthday cupcakes and song for Juzen, and time to have questions and discussion too! It was such a happy and special presentation, being Juzen's birthday and she brought cupcakes for all. And we had such a wonderful group of girls who were engaged and serious about being in IGNITE! It was such a special day.

I want to thank the wonderful Presenters who did such a fantastic job connecting with the girls and giving them such great and solid advice about their futures. Thank you to Nora Duffy, Intellectual Property, Avanade, Martine Worrall, Mechanical Engineer, Synapse Product Development, and Juzen Ruelos, Senior Program Manager in anti Piracy, MIcrosoft. and Happy Birthday too!! And thank you for wanting to be at Ignite FOR YOUR BIRTHDAY! The girls wanted to sing to Juzen, it was so sweet. All of you are very special and do such an amazing job with the young women in IGNITE. You tell the real story of your lives and the obstacles along the way, and how you overcame them, which is very inspiring to the girls. You all have been in IGNITE for so long and always reach out to the girls giving your e-mails, business cards and offer mentoring to them too. WE are so fortunate in IGNITE to have women such as yourselves. Thank you so much!

Thank you to the very special and wonderful Dept Head of Business and Technology at Franklin HS, Barbara Lynch. Cisco teacher, Academy of Finance, and more. Barbara puts so much time and effort into recruiting girls for IGNITE and telling the girls how important it is to spend time in IGNITE exploring their future opportunities. Barbara is a long time supporter in IGNITE and I appreciate her so much. Thank you to Damaris Pearson, Career Center Specialist who attended the event and helps us and supports IGNITE all the time.

Now here are the comments from the girls evaluation forms.

• It was very informational. I benefitted from this presentation greatly. Now I will consider the careers including technology and perhaps get a technical degree. It's more interesting than I thought it would be. I have a chance and its not too difficult, boring or unavailable to me, I thought it was great the way it was.
• I liked the guest speakers. It helped me go get more of an insight on technology/engineering. AFter the presentation I am more interested.
• The statistics of women in technology and engineering fields really surprised me on how low it was. I thought it went well.
• The thing that I like today is finding out all the trips we are going to take. Also there is all of these things that I can do in this field of high tech careers. I love that there is at least something I would like in these career fields. I brought my friends in today and would do that again. I look forward to all the IGNITE events.
• How Microsoft has different departments that you can switch whenever you want to. I want to apply for the Microsoft internship.
• A lot of information was given including information on how to get even more information. I learned that you can change what you do within a high tech company if you want to.
• I loved hearing the women's stories about their careers. I learned about the different kinds of engineering. It was so nice as it is.
• There are a lot of field trips that I want to do. I learned a lot of things.
• I liked how the women didn't know anything about technology or it wasn't their goal. Also I liked their stories. They didn't have anything planned out.
• I was really interested in Juzen Ruelos job. I've never been interested in this field and I wanted to be a social worker, but I've been thinking about private investigating etc. So her job is interesting and I really learned more. The guest speakers were great, and I would love to job shadow.
• I liked to listen to all of the visitors about how their life change from the jobs they have now. I heard about the Microsoft opportunity from Juzen Ruelos. I believe is sounds fun to be able to be a leader at many things. I want to see little young youth learning about IGNITE also.
• I learned that I can pursue a career in medical and technology which is what I really want to do.
• I liked the 3 ladies that were here talking to us,. It made me think about doing this more because I never thought about doing this before. I learned how much engineering there was and the coolest things that are involved in it!
• I liked learning about the paths people took to get where they are. Its nice to know people started off the way I am. I also learned about programs my school has to offer. It was great!
• I liked everything! It is the most interesting IGNITE meeting so far. The most interesting thing was that the Academy of Finance can take you places and can help you meet people you need to meet in order to make your career happen. Everything was great.
• I really loved how I heard about each of the presenters backgrounds and how they ended up in Microsoft. It really encourages me to really consider it! About all the different kinds of jobs at Microsoft. It was really helpful with all the information I've heard today!!!
• My favorite part was hearing the women got into their positions today.
• I learned that there are 5 types of engineers, also how women can do anything just like men, we have the ability to see things that men can't. The most interesting thing that I heard today was that Martine Worrall is a mechanical engineer and that she has worked on things like cellphones and I-Pods. I want to do more Ignite events. I am looking forward to going to MIcrosoft, the University of Washington, and Digipen.
• The presenters stories and how they got their jobs and the different types of engineering. Each of the different categories they have for engineering.
• Learning about the different career paths was very interesting and informative. Hearing about the travel opportunities was interesting. I look forward to the field trips.
• I like the fact that we got to ask experienced professionals questions. I learned that it is possible to transfer within a company and have different careers.
• Biomed majors are being considered at high tech companies.

Thank you all for making this event possible. It was wonderful.
Cathi