HI All

We had such a fantastic event at Rainier Beach HS. Wow, what a turnout. It was about 60-70 girls, the place was packed full, every seat was taken. They were such a wonderful group of girls. They had great questions and clearly were thrilled to have IGNITE at their school.

I want to thank the very special presenters at this event. Thank you to Linda Thomas, Boeing Safety Engineer and the Governor of the Society of Women Engineers in the Pacific NorthWest. Linda did such a great job connecting and in such a natural way to talk to the girls about the exciting world of Engineering. Every-time I hear her speak, I wish I could be one too. Thank you to Marta Smith, Lead Software Tester and Program Manager, Microsoft. Marta has the coolest job, testing Instant Messaging products and all the girls can relate to wanting that job!! Marta you make it so real and so fun, we all want to do it too. Thank you to Martine Worrall, the coolest Mechanical Engineer we know. She really gets the girls interested in Design and Engineering Design by sharing all the interesting project she has been doing, It is so obvious how excited she is about her career, and the girls can tell and feel it too. All these women really are so outstanding in their presentation to the girls, and it turned out to be such a wonderful event and as always we needed more time!! We do schedule an hour and a half each time, and everyone wishes we had 3 !!!! Thank you so much to these women who take time from their very busy jobs and lives to make time for the girls who really benefit from it. It means so much.

I want to thank the wonderful staff at Rainier Beach who make us feel so welcome and do such a great job in getting the girls to the event. First and foremost our spectacular Career Center Specialist the most wonderful Barbara Quintana. She works soooo hard all the time for kids. And she works so hard for us. How can I thank you for all you do!!! Thank you for support from administration, Principal Robert Gary, His Asst. Mary Wilson, for helping Barbara to get the word out.

I want to also thank Lilna Given-Williams, our Worked Based Learning Coordinator who attends all of the IGNITE events to help the young women get school credit for their involvement in IGNITE. We are so fortunate to have her with us, she is great for the kids and always does everything possible to help them.

And welcome to Makela Steward, a new teacher at Rainier Beach and such an outstanding role model for the girls. I want to welcome her to IGNITE. She has such a great story, doing law school, and becoming a school administrator, so many passions. And she is a graduate of Rainier Beach and MESA!! WE are so thrilled to have her be involved in IGNITE.

Here are the comments from the girls evaluation sheets regarding this event.

• How they talked and how they answered the questions with honestly and kindness.
• I really learned a lot about understanding engineering and technology careers. I liked to find out that we have a lot of technology companies around us.
• I liked how all the women were established in good paying careers. I'll be jamming in that party in a few years. :) It was incredible to hear that the pink hair girls got such a big raise in two years. It was really nice.
• The most that I liked the opportunities that you have, like travel to meet more people.
• I liked the stories that were told because they remind me of mine. The stories were the best part.
• I thought the way they did this panel really helped us because it could relate to us. They really needed scholarships like we do.
• The best part was the explanations of their job duties. The event was very insightful.
• The best part was the presentations of women from different companies. pink hair girl and how she got her job, it was so interesting.
• I liked the fact that there was a lot of information.
• I liked the stories that they told us. The stories are real and true and we need more women in Engineering.
• It was cool to learn that high tech jobs pay really well. I want to work at Microsoft when I get older.
• I like that they told us about their jobs and how girls can do it. They earn a lot of money and I love money. They do interesting projects too.
• I really liked that they answered all of our questions. And they gave us information about their jobs.
• The most interesting thing I learned was that we can make engineering careers more available for women.
• I liked hearing about the money and also there are a lot of ways to get into these careers. I loved hearing the story from the pink hair girl and how she got to where she is.
• I liked hearing about the pay for technology jobs. I also liked hearing about making IPODs.
• I thought it was interesting to learn about getting into high tech and how much easier it is than I thought it would be. I also thought it was interesting to learn on the job. It was really good.
• I liked the fact that there as a lot of information given out was great, life experiences and school experiences. Learning about starting salaries was great too.
• I like to tell you everything I am very happy about, it was so much and I would like to be engineering woman someday.
• I liked everything that you are telling. I am very interested.
• I information that we got from the ladies was the best part. Working on IPODS and Microsoft and learning about working on planes, very cool.
• What I liked best was now I truly understand why women want women in technology. I'm more excited to be an engineer now also. I also liked how people are so supportive. I could start learning what to do to become an engineer, and get good grades does help.
• It was great to meet successful women engineers. I learned that only 10 percent of engineers are women.
• I really enjoyed Martine's presentation. I liked learning about scholarships. It was a great event.
• I liked Martine's job and I thought it was cool because I've been considering being a chemical engineer and it did encourage me.
• It was interesting to learn about their jobs and their jobs were really cool.
• I liked hearing that you don't have to necessarily be good at math to work in technology, just have passion and drive, and you can do it.
• The fact that you had different people volunteer to talk to us was great.
• I liked the fact that everyone who spoke today is coming from the same place. I am not very good at math but I love science and engineering. The lady who is working on the space needle really inspired me.
• I liked the fact that the women who presented information about themselves today were so encouraging. I believe that its important for the young women in our society to know about certain opportunities.
• I thought the percentage of women working in technology would be significantly higher. It made me that much more determined to pursue my goals in life.
• Learning about the pay and interest in what they do was interesting.
• Well I like that there were people coming to share their experiences with us. The event was pretty good.
• I really liked the fact that there was women talking to us.
• I liked learning about these careers and how they make things.
• I liked everything.
• It was really interesting to hear what they have been through.
• The presentation I liked a lot. I also liked the description of engineering.

Thank you all for making this event possible.
Cathi