IGNITE Kickoff
On Wednesday, April 30th right after school we had our first event for the IGNITE Program. We had 19+ girls attend, with some stopping by between fast pitch etc. to try and hear a little about what was being shared.
Our presenters were to say the least wonderful. There were seven presenters representing four of the largest and most successful technology corporations in the world. There were no “stupid” questions with all of the panel members taking the time to answer each question with much thoughtfulness. The presenters included the following:
- Lakshmi Nidamarthi a Senior Manager, Technology at Amazon. She was on the team that worked on Kindle, the newest high tech “book.”
- Dustin Stites the Senior Relationship Manager for the University Programs at Amazon came along too. He was asked to come, by Amazon, to make sure that there was someone who could share their experiences recruiting from the colleges for the company. He was also one of the few panel members who had met Bill Gates! (We let him stay after that sharing!)
- Joni Balkeslee is Manager of Business Development for CISCO. She travels to over 25 countries promoting CISCO products. She also has worked with IGNITE over the past number of years.
- Roxanne Seubert is International Program Manager for Microsoft. She talked about all the great opportunities there are for women today and after 14 years in the field she still learns something new everyday.
- Diana Lanham, Business Administrator for Microsoft. She shared a “people person” that is not necessarily a “techi” can have a place in a corporation such as Microsoft.
- Harini Gurusamy is a Software Design Engineer at Microsoft. She talked about what it is like working in a culture that is relaxed, demanding and fun.
- Annette Wilkie is a chemical engineer for the Intel Corporation. She shared being in the industry since its early start and the changes that she has experienced and opportunities that have developed for women over the years.
The panel did an excellent job sharing their stories and answering the student’s questions. Every student evaluation sheet indicated that they learned a lot through the professional’s personal stories. Students indicated that they liked the diversity of the presenters and they liked the fact that the stories were personal reflections. The students also liked the opportunity to ask questions while at the same time getting to have individual conversations with each presenter. They liked the examples of the “real world” and what some of the challenges that face women in the industry, like balancing personal lives with professional lives. They also appreciated hearing about what company recruiters are looking at when interviewing college graduates and what they need to do now to prepare for their futures.
A special thanks goes out to a number of people that helped make this event happen. All the staff at Spanaway Lake High School that announced the event in their classes and continued to remind the students I want to thank. I would like to thank Trisha Pak who made sure that girls were aware of the sign-up sheet in our Career Center. George Aszklar who made sure that the pizza got ordered and delivered for the event. Special thanks goes out to Julie Baublits that helped with securing an appropriate room for the event when we had to switch our meeting place out of the Career Center.
Last I would like to thank all the young women who attended our first event and helped to make it so successful and have indicated that they are not only interested in attending future events but are also interested in being involved in planning them.
Sincerely,
Beula Robb
Spanaway Lake High School Chapter Coordinator
Bethel School District