HI All,

What a great way to kick-off the IGNITE year!! It was such a fantastic event and turnout yesterday. There were about 60 girls and they really loved this event, as you will see from the evaluation sheets. We met in the Library and it was a beautiful venue, even a fireplace with a fire burning, great ambiance. The girls asked such great questions and the discussion was first rate. I loved this event and it just put me in such a great mood for this IGNITE year.

I want to thank everyone who made this day possible.

I want to thank our outstanding presenters. They each brought their love of their careers and passion for the girls and it is a winning combination. Thank you to and welcome to two new volunteers,. Cheri Morton, Senior Business Analyst in Legal and Corporate, Microsoft and Jaana Juntila, Manager, Staffing Coordinator, Group Health. Both of you did a great job and your excitement and enthusiasm for being in ignite really stood out. Jaana brought something entirely new to ignite, being in technology in health care, which is a new slant. I love having the girls learn about as many types of opportunities in technology as possible, so we are fortunate to have Jaana with us!! You are both exceptional and we welcome you with open arms!!

I want to thank our next two speakers who brought something very special to yesterday's event. Thank you to Vicki Ho and Manh Duong. They are both graduates of Ingraham and IGNITE!! It is such a thrill to have returning students who are through college and in the workforce returning to their alma mater and really helping the girls who come up after them. They both did an outstanding job and I had to hold back from crying my eyes out,, just so proud of them!!! Vicki Ho is at Expedia.com and traveling the world as a Manager!! and Manh Duong has found her passion as a Financial Analyst at IP Financial. What a great moment to have these wonderful young women at the ignite Presentation at their schools. Thank you both! And I want to thank the outstanding Sharon Carroll who as been a volunteer in IGNITE for many years. Sharon is a Technical Writer from Microsoft and really brings such a great story to the event. Sharon we are so fortunate to have you and you did a great job as you always do. When Sharon walks in the room the girls look up to her and you could hear a pin drop. Thank you to our presenters for creating such a great event.

I want to thank a very special teacher who made this day happen as well. His name is Stan White and Ingraham is so lucky to have him, Everyone who knows him knows that is true. When I announced his name and thanked him in front of the girls they let out a big cheer, they clearly love their teacher. Thank you Stan for working so hard to make this event happen and so smoothly. Stan had every girl signed up and it couldn't have made it easier for me that's for sure. I love working with you Stan!!

I want to thank our welcoming and wonderful librarians. They really make us feel so welcome and wanted each and every year. They set up the AV cart so we could show our video and let me move the library this way and that way to suit our event. You are both just great, thank you to Betty Buckley and Nif Unterschute.

It is always the highlight to hear from the girls. This is taken from the evaluation forms

• I loved hearing about all the different forms of technology being played out in jobs. Great program, thanks.
• I really loved learning that traveling and technology can go together. I want to do more IGNITE activities.
• It was great getting to know women in the technology field.
• I learned that 9 out of 10 jobs will have some form of technology in them. I want to do an internship.
• I loved hearing about the job experiences of these beautiful ladies.
• I liked how everyone came from a different company.
• What I liked most was hearing about the different careers in technology.
• It was most interesting to hear from the different women and how they did get to where they are today. I learned that there are many different paths to getting there. I look forward to job shadowing.
• I love that they told us about all the opportunities possible, and that there are many ways to get there. I thought that really helped.
• I didn't realize that there are so few women in the field.
• I learned all the ways having a technical background can help you.
• I see how Ignite helped the women meet contacts and that helped them with their careers.
• I really liked the questions and answers. I look forward to the field trips.
• I liked the information they gave me. I learned a lot about different experiences. It made me consider the technology field.
• My favorite part about today was the descriptions about each speakers careers. It really helped me to understand . I also liked the information because I want to be in the working field of medical and automotive.
• The most interesting thing I learned was the internship information and how technology applies to everything.
• I learned a lot about IGNITE, how you can go on different field trips and how they can help guide you in picking classes and colleges.
• The most interesting thing I heard was how we get to go to Microsoft. I want to get everything you have to offer so I will pay attention. I want to do all IGNITE activities.
• Everything was interesting to me. All the different careers.
• I loved hearing about Sharon's career, technical writing. It was great. I look forward to the field trip and job shadow.
• I learned that more careers exist in technology than just computer work. I also found how these jobs give you the opportunity to travel.
• The women were very inspirational. They made it clear that we could do anything.
• One thing that I liked about today's event is that the place where these women work in varied. It shows that technological jobs are available at many companies.
• The most interesting thing I heard today is that I can have an internship at Microsoft as a high school student. I can't think of anyway to improve the event, its great. There are women talking about their jobs and students can ask questions. IGNITE clearly has great events. I can't think of anything they could add.
• Listening to how much fun and experience other people have doing this program. I learned that even though some people may not have the best life at home and be having hard times at home I can still get through it one way or another and it will be worth it. I wish there was a computer class here at Ingraham just for women.
• I appreciated learning the statistics. I didn't realize that so many jobs at Microsoft go unfilled each year and that women can be filling them :)
• I loved the video and the people.
• I loved having the women talk about their experiences. I thought it was great.
• The panel emphasized the impact and importance of technology in all job fields.
• I liked learning that most of the internships were paid.
• There was a lot of good information. I am so glad to see that there are women that are encouraging other women.
• I liked it when the women told us what they do for a living. I loved the video.
• I really liked how we had an open discussion. And I liked how as asked questions and they answered to the way we understand.
• The things that were very interesting were how they got recruited and how they got to travel to do their jobs. I really liked it, thank you very much. :)
• I thought it was really interesting how the women on the board were very young and had all come from the same background as us young women, and have made it so far with their careers.
• I learned that there are a lot of different paths to be successful in technology career fields.
• I really enjoyed listening about their careers and how they got there.
• The most interesting things that I heard today were that they all had different ways to get to the careers.
• I got to learn information about different fields that you could take in the technical field. I feel that the IGNITE program will really help me in my career. The different types of careers that people get going through technology and IGNITE were interesting to me.
• I liked how they all explained their experience with Microsoft and IGNITE. It lets me know what I can do..
• WE had many examples of the different fields and from different people.
• the women are putting their foot down and trying to do something about it. I loved how the great amount of success these women have. there are many companies you can work in and do technology.
• I liked that they informed us about how we should make our way up to what we want and to take more risks and experience different things. Some women had no idea that they were interested in technology until last minute . Some had no degrees in technology either, but the experiences they had earned them their jobs.
• Just hearing the different experiences, and being able to know that there is a way for women to enter technological fields without going through all the over training. I really thought it was interesting to hear that 9 out of 10 jobs will have some form of technology in them. and one of the ladies explained it sounds something like I would look into. Also I always thought technology was something electrical and how I understand its all about solving problems. I learned so much. Its all about finding creative solutions to one or many problems. I think that you guys had the right plan and it was an attention grabber from the start.
• I appreciated hearing different experiences from a variety of women. The salary they can earn in the technological field is great too. I loved hearing about the flexibility in the jobs.
• I liked hearing all the different personal stories from the panel. After hearing them explain about their jobs I would like to go into a technical career.
• I learned that there are so many technical jobs in many different fields and careers.
• I liked the people telling us how they got to where they are today.

It was incredible to read all the girls comments today. I think the level of our events just continues to rise. I am so proud of what we accomplished yesterday with these girls.

Thank you all who made this possible. This is just the start of a great IGNITE YEAR!!!

Sincerely,
Cathi
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