Thanks to a collaborative effort between Cranston parents and Microsoft employees Lorilyn Hall and Dino Ciccone, together with the Cranston Area Career and Technical Center’s (CACTC) staff, including guidance counselor Daniela Ciccone, 15 CACTC girls attended the DigiGirlz Day event at Microsoft in Cambridge, Mass., as the only Rhode Island representatives present at the event.

DigiGirlz is designed as an opportunity for middle and high school girls to learn about careers in technology, connect with Microsoft employees, and participate in hands-on computer and technology workshops.

Arriving at school shortly after 6 a.m. and returning shortly after 6 p.m., the girls put in a very full day of learning about a multitude of careers in the STEM industries, including the opportunities for both internships and full-time careers within Microsoft.

“This is a great opportunity for networking,” Hall told the students as the bus arrived in Cambridge. “If you hear someone speak and they say something that interests you, don’t be afraid to go up and talk to them, ask questions. That’s what this day is for.”

Anissa Battaglino, Northeast business operations manager, welcomed the 150 students who hailed from all over Massachusetts and CACTC. She noted that this year’s group was one of the biggest yet, with groups in the past being limited to as few as 100 students.

As the students enjoyed their complimentary breakfast, Battaglino explained that they would be broken up into groups of 50 students and would move throughout the various hands-on workshops, demonstrations, and speakers through three different floors of the building. Throughout the day, the students would have the opportunity to experience a technology office environment, participate in hands-on sessions – including one which would qualify them for an “Hour of Code” certificate at the conclusion – meet women entrepreneurs and Microsoft employees, explore and get excited about the future of technology, get resources to help them determine if they wanted to pursue a career in technology, learn the right way to use social media, and have fun while doing all of it.

As the group split into smaller groups, the workshops and speaking events began. Between 9 a.m. and noon, the students rotated through three engaging sessions that included demonstrations, hands-on experience, and interactive speaker workshops.

In the creative music workshop, the students had the opportunity to work together in pairs with Surface Pro 3s and 4s as Eliza Mulcahy, Lisa Casillo, Dvide Swenson, and other representatives from the retail store team walked them through the easy-to-use Stagelight program, which helped them to create original pieces of music. They listened to their creations through new Microsoft earbuds, which were given to them to keep.

As they moved on to the research and development garage/foundry intern session, foundry manager Ben Fersenheim, Northeastern University intern Maddy Leger, and technical campus recruiter Molly Walter spoke to the students about the Microsoft internship program and the opportunities that exist for both students and for full-time employment in the technical fields at the company. They shared stories of ideas that have come out of Microsoft that were successful as well as those that failed, which they emphasized was an important piece of the learning and development process in the STEM – science, technology, engineer, and math – field.

“A lot of our stuff fails,” said Fersenheim, who oversees “The Garage,” an idea think-tank and experimental department where interns have the opportunity to experiment and try new things.

The three also emphasized that there is no perfect cookie-cutter person who is right for a STEM field career.

“We look for people with technical skills, but yet not specific technical skills. For example, it’s good that you know how to write code. It’s not important that you know how to write a specific kind of code because if you can learn one, you can learn more. The programs I learned to code with are in the Smithsonian now,” he said. “We look for people who have the ability to solve problems. We look to see not just did you solve it, but how did you go about solving it. What methods did you use? Can you communicate with others? Are you able to interact with other human beings?”

As questions from the audience were asked and answered, the speakers responded to a question about whether or not it’s critical to be good in math.

“It depends what side of computer science you do,” Walter said. “Depending what you’re doing there are very different kinds of math. There’s the engineering side, there’s electrical engineering, and other kinds of engineering. It’s not so much are you good at math and know math, but more important that you know how to put in the effort to figure it out, to know where to find the resources to solve the problems you have and how to do it as you go. It’s important to get a foundation, and it’s more about problem solving.”

Fersenheim agreed.

“I don’t remember anything about calculus, but if I see a problem, I know it’s calculus and I know where to go to find what I need to solve it,” he said.

Both Leger and Walter described the internship program and working environment at Microsoft. Leger is currently completing two back-to-back, 16-week paid internship programs, and raved about her experience.

Walter told the students that her preconceived notions of working at Microsoft prior to interviewing there couldn’t have been more wrong.

“This is not your grandpa’s Microsoft,” she said. “I was expecting all old men, with glasses that had tape in the middle and pocket protectors. I was expecting white walls and boring cubes. I walked out of my interview and did a total 180. Working at Microsoft is the coolest thing in the world. I work with the coolest people in the coolest environment. Everyone loves what they do and they are really good at it.”

As they wrapped up their session, Walter reminded the group that technology is predominantly dominated by men, which does not provide the necessary diversity when developing new concepts.

“You want the best talent that is out there, but you also want diversity at the table,” she said. “We want more women at the table so we can create better hardware, better software, and better products for all, men and women.”

During the final workshop before lunch, Gavin Bauman, technical evangelist for Microsoft, led the students in an engaging, hands-on coding workshop using Construct 2, an HTML5 game creator designed to create 2D games. At the end of their Hour of Code, the students had used the program, working with a partner to create an animated game, guided throughout the session by Bauman’s step-by-step instructions.

After lunch, the students had the opportunity to get a sneak peek at some of the exhibits on display at the technology and fashion exhibit now at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Each student would later receive complimentary tickets to visit the museum as well. Throughout her presentation, Lauren Whitley, senior curator of textile and fashion arts for the museum, showed the students the various ways in which the STEM field has connected with the world of fashion, whether it is with 3D-printed clothing – such as the red dress that was recently the first 3D-printed dress to be walked down the runway in Paris – or the clothes that are being designed and created to help in the world of medicine, or the clothes that keep sustainability at the forefront when being created, showing some which even used solar panels in their designs. She talked about fully customizable clothing being a not-too-distant possibility for consumers.

“In the future consumers may be able to sit in their homes and scan their body measurements and print their clothing out in their house versus having multiple sizes on a rack in the store,” she said. “People want to be able to interact with their clothing and be a part of the design.”

She discussed the collaborative efforts between fashion designers, artists, scientists, and those in the medical field, and emphasized that the possibilities for new collaborations between the various disciplines are endless.

The social media session was run by Lauren Metter, social media strategist, and Sarah Ribeiro. Both work for Metter Media, a social media management group. Both under 30, they spoke to the students about the company they’d created upon seeing an unfulfilled need for management groups to help businesses and companies to manage their social media, brand themselves online, and reach audiences that are connecting more and more through the world of social media. They gave the students advice for managing their own social media and online personas, as well as for reaching their own goals.

“Believe in what you do,” Metter said.

The two ran a social media contest, giving away prizes for tweets and retweets of the event online.

As the day wrapped up, the groups were treated to a tour that included a presentation in the Envision Center by Chad Gronbach, Tim Baggs, and Scott McFadden, technical professionals at Microsoft. The Envision Center is a classroom of the future that gives consumers a look at things that may be possible in the not-so-distant future, and helps consumers and business partners see the need for those products in their own lives. With the amphitheater-style room set up in various scenes, such as a bus stop, home, or office, the students had the opportunity to take a look at some of the upcoming technology including the Holo Lens.

“Some of these innovations might be 10 years from now, some of them you might see tomorrow,” Gronbach said. “We’re always thinking of new ways to change the world and we’re always looking for new ways to interact and integrate with people, even if the people are not even right there.”

As the students from CACTC reflected on their whirlwind experiences at Microsoft, they all agreed that the day was a great one.

“I really liked my experience at DigiGirlz,” junior Allison Marchetti said. “I learned about a whole other career option in computers I wasn’t previously aware of. It was fun, and I’d be up for doing it again.”

Sophomores Alex Crouse and Samantha Evans both agreed.

“It was interesting to see what they thought technology would be like in 2030,” said Crouse, reflecting on her experiences in the Envision Center.

“Interacting with the Microsoft employees and engineers was a great experience, and after this event I am definitely considering a career in the science and technology field,” Evans said.

At the completion of the day, a Surface computer was given away to one lucky student, and additional raffle prizes were given away as well. Every student in attendance received a Microsoft bag and T-shirt, along with their Museum of Fine Arts tickets. Chaperones also received Microsoft mugs.

For more information about DigiGirlz and other Microsoft diversity programs, visit microsoft.com/en-us/diversity/programs/digigirlz.