HI All

We had such a special and rewarding experience with the Women in IT event at Microsoft. Last year was our first time at the Women in IT event and the girls had such a great time. This year Karl Ruff who is the Project Lead the Way teacher,( pre- engineering) at Roosevelt HS, brought young women from him classes back again this year to enjoy this empowering event.

Lori Longthorne, did such a fantastic and inspirational job in organizing this event. She works tirelessly towards these goals, to attract and recruit women, and have diversity at Microsoft and clearly it's her passion. The speakers were extremely admirable in their passion to attract young women into technology and engineering careers, among all the many diversity goals that the group fosters. WE work very closely with the Women in IT group to collaborate to reach this goal.

This year they sponsored the job shadow events and we plan on even more next year. Thanks to Renuka Iyer, who organized those successful events for us. Thank you to, Celia Morant-Kraus, Molly Cox, Raelene Sanders Shashi Kumar, Joanne Brandsma, Cathy Swenson, Mickey Pierce, Sue Kurian, and so many others and all the women in IT who support and nurture this relationship with IGNITE. There are so many women who are involved and I know I left many names out. We are so fortunate to have these wonderful women behind us.

Thank you Lori for inviting us and for making IGNITE part of your yearly goals in the Women in IT group. We acknowledge your commitment to these goals and to all of our future collaborations.

Sincerely,
Cathi