Hi All,

We had a fabulous field trip on Friday to Microsoft. It was a great way to start our field trip experience for this school year !! The girls had such an amazing day and I want to thank everyone who made this possible.

Thank you to Mylene Padolina for setting up our field trips and welcoming us to Microsoft each and every year!! Thank you to the wonderful Janice Hunter, who makes each and every field trip fun with all the details taken care of and everything running so smoothly. It is her enthusiasm for this event so the girls will have the optimum experience that they can get. She makes that happen. Thank you Janice !!

Thank you to all the wonderful staff at the Home and Office of the Future,. The young women really came away in awe of what they got to see and experience that day. It is because you all take the time and attention to detail, explain, and answer all the young women's questions. Thank you for doing that. Thank you to Julie Brown, who welcomes us each time and John Gallagher, who makes the Home tour come alive! To the wonderful Apollo Fuhrimom and Sandi Drewitz who made the office of the Future such an exciting place to see. You all make us feel so welcome and thrilled to get to see such an amazing place. Thank you !!

I want to thank all the exceptional Microsoft employees who come to the lunch discussion portion of the day. They sit and have lunch with our students and then we have a whole group discussion where the staff introduces themselves and then the girls get to ask questions. The girls had great questions that day and the staff really connected with the young women in a way that we all know makes that difference in what we are trying to do; to inspire and connect. We certainly did that !! Also I want to say, we have so many wonderful new IGNITE volunteers to welcome this year. Thank you for joining with us and welcome!! Thank you to Betsy Norton-Middaugh (Program Manager), Marla Mingee (Network Engineer), Raelene Sanders (Network Engineer), Heather O'Cull (Program Manager), Susan Forney (MS IT), Jennifer Stephenson (Intern - MS IT), Tricia Bush (SR, Product Manager), Yuping Li, (Software Design Engineer in Test), and Ray Miller, (Test Lead 2). As you can see the dedication of the Microsoft employees is so incredible and new people are showing up all the time, Thank you to all of you who made this possible and if you are there at these events, you really know what I mean.

Thank you to the wonderful Seattle School District Educators who work so hard in their role as the IGNITE school partners. They bring the young women because they know how important this experience is for them and they are so enthusiastic about all the events, each and everyone. Thank you to Estela Mendoza (Career Center Specialist - Marshall HS), Lisa Fabitz, (Career Center Specialist - West Seattle HS), Len Quatrella (Technology Teacher - Marshall HS), and Doug Gougenour (Community Coordinator - Ret.) You are all so wonderful to work with!!

And of course here are the comments from the girls.

• I thought it was all interesting, and I liked it all. I loved seeing the Home of the Future, it was incredible.
• The people answered a lot of questions and went into a lot of detail and I liked that a lot. I wish I could come and visit again.
• I really liked the whole thing.
• I really liked the whole "Smart House" and the idea of the smart house is so cool.
• What I liked most about today's event was the new technology I got to see. I like the event just how it is, I don't think it needs any changes.
• The most interesting thing I saw today was everything.
• The best part about today is people had a lot of questions answered so that makes us have more knowledge of technology.
• I liked the tour around the future house, its so cool to have a sneak peek on it.
• Today's event was very interesting. I liked how we got to experience the use of new technology. There should be more time to experience things.
• The most interesting thing I heard today was about the voicemail and all the technology related to that. I learned a lot.
• I liked the women were so open to be an inspiration to girls, it really made me want to hear more of what they had to say.
• That you could travel and work this kind of job at the same time, and that you did not have to be a math expert,
• Everything's so awesome. Like the office tour, the computers are really cool. I wish I could have them for free.
• I learned that I don't have to be rich or the smartest person in the world to get a job at Microsoft, if I want it, I can do it.
• I liked the future office so much. Everything was so cool. I learned that I don't have to be the best artist to be in computer animation.
• The lady with the short hair and green sweater, she is cool.
• I liked getting involved. It was amazing to see the Home thing that was really cool and makes me wanna dig more into this as a career.
• I learned that there is a demand for women in technology,. I loved the tour of the Home.

Thank you to everyone who made this possible.

Sincerely,
Cathi
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Pictures of the Event