As part of my last post, I mentioned DigiGirlz and completely forgot to tell you, dear reader, about a remarkable team effort that went into running our second DigiGirlz Day in Connecticut a few months back. We really had an awesome event last year and this year matched it. Details…
We had over 50+ students and chaperones from 14 schools across Connecticut. The keynote speaker was Honora Kenney, curriculum director for the Connecticut Invention Convention, who started us off with a great keynote focused on empowering women to reach their full potential. “We must ensure that women have every opportunity become the innovators, the problem solvers, the inspirational leaders of tomorrow, fully prepared to grow our society and our world, unhampered by artificial and societal constraints. ”
We were visited by a special guest star – the Microsoft Surface – courtesy of our good friends at Infusion Development. Both students and chaperones were amazed and delighted by actually interacting with the Microsoft Surface.
We had a non-traditional career panel that talked about “real life” that included:
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Our Shy Scientist – a University professor (of Biomaterials and Reconstructive Sciences)
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Our Math Geek – an actuary
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Our Developer Diva – an enterprise web developer
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Our Amateur Egyptologist – a Microsoft Client technologist
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Our Psych Major – a Microsoft Enterprise Account Team member
Interactive sessions focused on Internet Safety, School of the Future, Technology Trends, and College Prep.
And a great Student Innovation series where small groups of students designed, presented and defended their “innovative product” to the rest of the attendees. The students really liked this exercise and it helped cement the themes of the day – innovation, technology, empowerment.
It takes an amazing team to make this happen and that’s what we had. Thank you all!
One of the slides from our career panel hit home with me. It talked about achieving Joy at Work: work with nice people, surround yourself with good people, teach others, and make time for family.
This event and all the hard work from every team member reminded me that I have Joy at Work!
