IGNITE Announces Boys' Program

IGNITE Announces Boys' Program

IGNITE, an acronym for Inspiring Girls Now In Technology Evolution, is a network of girls and women who inspire and teach each other. The women work with technology in nearly every imaginable sector of the work world. The girls—typical high school students trying to figure out what to do with the rest of their lives—use familiar technology everyday (cell phones, video games, the Internet), but most have never considered careers that envision, develop, market, sell, apply, or rely on these and other technologies. When the women share their personal stories with the girls, sparks of curiosity, knowledge, hope, and possibility are ignited. The synergy generated by this interaction soon has the girls blazing paths to previously unimagined futures of their own. For almost a decade, IGNITE has had great success in fulfilling its mission and is looking to expand in order to make sure that the program is in every middle and high school in America and around the world. Yet this is only half the equation. As we all know, young men of color and young men living in poverty face some of the same obstacles that women face. We want to help them too. That’s why we are pleased to announce we are branching off the IGNITE program. This program will allow us to inspire boys to consider engineering and technology a positive career choice through presentations, field trips, job shadows and other events. Here’s how you can help . . . o Pick a name for the program – We are looking for something that keep the “flame” idea of IGNITE, so we are looking for a term related to fire or flame and includes the ideas of boys, inspiration, technology, and engineering. If you have an idea, please submit it to cathi@ignite-us.org. (This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it .) The person who comes up withe the best name will win a lifetime Professional Membership in IGNITE and its brother organization. o Nominate a man that you know to be a role model – IGNITE’s success comes from the fact that the students can identify with the professional women who come to see them at their first presentation. We want to duplicate this success by finding men who volunteer to be mentors for the boys.