HI All,

We had a fabulous event at Roosevelt HS Lot's of young women joined the meeting and they really engaged with the discussion and asked great questions too. With the new technology at Roosevelt HS we were able to have the website posted so girls could see how to access the resources we are on the site for them. Particularly since its time to apply for Digigirlz Microsoft summer camp, we went through the information on how to do that too!

Thank you to our wonderful presenters who talked to the students so naturally about their stories and journeys to the wonderful careers they have today. Thank you to Justine Vick, Network Architect, Microsoft, Molly Cox, Chief of Staff for Jim DuBois, Microsoft, and Renee Bergstrom, Program Manager, Microsoft. You all did such an amazing job connecting with the girls so that they felt like you understood their struggles and barriers to these fields. That is always such a wonderful experience to get the girls talking about why they resist these careers so we can help them break these barriers down!! That was the focus of our session and we really had some great breakthroughs by the end! Some of the girls started recruiting for an after school club creating drafting designs in the brand new Project Lead the Way Lab. WE talked about how to get more girls to join these sessions. They agreed that hanging up posters of Monster Garage, and cars might not bring girls to these sessions!! It was a great time.

Thank you to the wonderful teachers at Roosevelt who support these events in every possible way. Thank you to Liz MacLennan, Dept Chair, Business and Marketing and Technology! Thank you to Karl Ruff, Project Lead the Way, pltw.org (pre-engineering curriculum) and Dan Norton-MIddaugh, Web Design 1 and 2 and Business Language Class, and Nicole Samuels, Marketing and School store. What a great team!!

Here are the comments from the girls survey sheets!

• The best part was hearing other people's history about how they got into their careers.
• I liked that we got to talk with women who actually do the job. Also I loved how much information the women shared.
• I learned that I don't have to be a rocket scientist to be an engineer. I can do it. I would like to see ignite for troubled kids.
• I learned that I could still go to Community college and work in high tech.
• I loved hearing the women talking about their jobs.
• I learned that I can travel in high tech. I liked it all.
• I loved hearing all about how jobs work at Microsoft.
• Women do well in high tech. They can make a lot of money and travel. This program is great.
• I loved hearing Renee's story. I learned that it is possible to get a career in high tech, reachable.
• I liked hearing each of the women's unique story. You don't have to a brilliant person or student to work in high tech or get a good job. It was perfect the way it was.
• I liked hearing each persons unique story. I makes me think I could do the things they do. I think that the most interesting thing was how far each person had come. I would love to do more of these events.
• I liked hearing the different jobs that are possible and hearing how you don't have to be outrageously smart. The women were not that good at math but were still able to do these jobs.
• I liked that some people came in to talk about their jobs. All the things that happened to everyone before they came to work at Microsoft.
• I loved getting to know about IGNITE and what they do. It was interesting that all the women worked at Nordstroms.
• I liked hearing about the jobs.
• The talks by the visitors was great.
• I loved hearing the stories of how they got to their current jobs.
• I liked hearing stories from women in technology and hearing about their travel experiences.
• I loved Renee's story about learning about computers and going from a taco time job to working at Microsoft.
• I liked hearing about how people found their "dream Jobs". I also liked hearing about all the options at Microsoft.
• I really was impressed about how passionate they were about their jobs.
• I like the background information and the women's past stories, and how they let us know that anyone can do it.
• There could be nothing better, It was great how everything came together.
• I liked all the women's speeches. It was nice to know their stories. I really loved hearing how women get to where they are. It was all good.
• I liked hearing people's stories. I think it was great.
• I liked the stories they told. I liked them because they came from a bad place and got to where they are now.
• I liked that we got to talk with women who actually do the job. Also how much information they shared.

Thank you everyone for making this possible.
Cathi