Hi All,

We had a wonderful experience yesterday at South Lake High school. All the young women from South Lake attended the event, 24 girls in all. We had 5 amazing and exceptional speakers.

The women connected with the girls each as individuals and answered each and every of the great questions that girls asked. Then we continued the questions as a group, had a great discussion, and went over the time we had. because it was clear to me no one wanted it to be over. It was a very special experience and one that I feel so grateful to have been a part of. I have great pictures to share as well.

I want to thank everyone for making this such a special and inspiring event.

Thank you to our wonderful presenters,. Sharon Carroll (Technical Writer - Microsoft), Allison McCauley (Global OEM Technical Account Manager - Microsoft), Martine Worrall (Mechanical Engineer - Synapse Product Development), Marta Smith (Lead Test Manager - Microsoft), and Divya Narayanan (Software Tester - Microsoft).

You are all such amazing women! It was so inspiring to hear all of you speak to the girls and share your stories in such a way that you could hear a pin drop in that room. It was clear that the girls were inspired by all of you. I want to thank the wonderful staff at South Lake High School. Barbara Quintana, my contact and IGNITE LEAD at South Lake and Rainier Beach. As always, I could never do this without you. Barbara spends so much time making sure every detail is done and all the girls are there. She goes class to class and really goes the extra mile to have this event and all of our events turn out spectacular. Thank you Barbara!

Thank you to the extraordinary Principal Barbara Moore, who loves IGNITE and encourages her students to participate fully in all our events. She was there for the whole event and has supported IGNITE unwaveringly all these years. And thank you to South Lake counselor, Carol Johnson, for always being there too.

And to the students of course who make us want to do all we can to support and encourage them to reach their dreams. I have the comments from the girls so you can hear directly what they thought. Here they are below:

• I liked that they shared their past with us. I wish it was longer. I liked learning about their work and that everything they did they enjoyed.
• I loved the discussion and how they explained everything to us. I learned about a lot of kinds of high tech careers.
• I liked how they were speaking to us and the things they talked about. I liked hearing what they did before this job. I liked everything. It was great.
• I liked everything, I liked when the women were speaking.
• I liked how all of the speakers were friendly and nice. The most interesting thing I learned today was how these women got their jobs. I want to have more events like this.
• I liked getting my questions answered. WE talked about games and web design which I liked. I want to do more IGNITE events.
• I liked learning about opportunities offered as far as career choices. The panel was very diverse, and everything I heard was good.
• I liked that the guest speakers shared some personal stories and info. I also liked that they enjoyed their jobs.
• I must say it was all interesting and I liked hearing about the clothing they get to wear.
• I would love to see how computers are made.
• I liked everything and it was an interesting conversation. Now I would want to look into a technical college.
• I learned about the different careers that Microsoft has.
• I really liked that class. I liked how they were speaking and what they talked about.

The feedback was great and I know the girls really got a lot out of this event.

Thank you so much for making this possible.

Sincerely,
Cathi
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Pictures of the event