IGNITE’s Regional Director for San Francisco, Amber Zertuche, was invited to Atlassian to speak on a panel about the future of education. She was also honored to sit alongside representatives from local non-profits like Black Girls Code, SF Ed Fund, ScriptEd, Mission Graduates, First Place for Youth, Larkin Street Youth Services, Students Rising Above, and Reading Partners. The panelists introduced their organization and answered questions regarding their own story and what they see as the future of education.
Amber shared her story of working as an engineer on the James Webb Space Telescope then leaving the field in response to the lack of gender diversity on her team to become a teacher, IGNITE Advisor, and eventually IGNITE’s Regional Director. She made this important shift because IGNITE focuses not only on learning skills for girls to have opportunities in the 21st century but we also focus on the emotional connection between girls and women in order to inspire them to pursue STEM classes and careers. This emotional connection is what makes the motivation to pursue stay with the girls, especially when hard work and resilience is needed. By the end of the panel event, we had several people from Atlassian sign up to be volunteers and made future collaboration plans with the non-profit representatives. Thank you to Atlassian who made this day possible and for allowing us to speak and represent our change-making organization to you all!