Today we celebrated Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day in our Tallahassee office with children from several members of our team. In addition to a field trip to the Florida Capitol and taking over our twitter feed, each child interviewed a different ExcelinEd staff member to create this blog post. Here is the fruit of their labor!
Today I met Jessica Hammonds who helps manage the advocacy team and has worked here for almost two years. When she was growing up, Jessica wanted to be either a marine biologist or an archaeologist, but her favorite subject in school was Language Arts. When I asked her “Are you a coffee or tea person?” she didn’t say a word and just pointed to her Venti Starbucks cup. We both laughed! Next I asked, “What is your favorite ExcelinEd memory?” She told me that her favorite memory is the National Summit each year.
I interviewed Claire Voorhees this morning who has worked for ExcelinEd for five years. When she was growing up, Claire wanted to be one of three things; a professional soccer player, a teacher or a lawyer. Her favorite subject has always been History. I asked her, “If you could trade places with anyone at ExcelinEd, who would it be and why?” She told me that she would be Cari Miller because Cari is an expert at helping states with their reading policies.
Today, I interviewed Ms. Pam in her office, and I thought it was really fun to get to know her. She is the Director of Finance and is basically in charge of how the organization spends its money. When she was younger, Pam wanted to be a physical therapist. Her favorite subject in school was Language Arts, which was a good thing because she helped me spell words that we a little hard. I found out that she likes drinking coffee and tea. Her favorite thing about working at ExcelinEd is knowing that she is helping students across the country.
This morning, I interviewed Jess Langhaim over Skype. Jess is the Vice President of Development, and her job is to raise money for ExcelinEd. She has worked here for six years. She went to Florida State University and majored in Spanish. Since Jess works from home, I was interested in what her day is like. She told me that she wakes up really early, drinks coffee (with a lot of cream), checks her emails and then goes down to her home office to start the day. When I asked her “If you could trade places with with anyone at ExcelinEd, who would it be?” She told me that she would love to be Quentin Suffren, but only for one day because he gives presentations to so many different audiences.
This morning I met with Mr. Mike over coffee (which is also his favorite drink) to learn about his job at ExcelinEd. He explained that his job is to calculate statistics based on states that pass education laws every year. Mr. Mike told me that he went to college at the University of Florida AND Florida State University. Mike’s favorite part of working here is that he feels like he is helping students and their families. Finally, I asked him, “When you were younger, what did you want to be?” He said that he dreamed about being a musician in a band.
Today I met Ms. Cari Miller and we spent a little time getting to know about her and her job. She told me that she helps states with laws that help students learn how to read. When she was growing up, she wanted to be either an artist, a pediatrician or a teacher. And guess what, she was an elementary school teacher for almost six years! When I asked her who she would like to trade places with at ExcelinEd, she said Meghan Presnell (that’s my mom) because she would like to learn more about social media and other communications strategies.
The Take Our Daughters And Sons To Work program is celebrating 26 years of showing children the value of their education, helping them discover the power and possibilities associated with a balanced work and family life, providing them an opportunity to share how they envision the future, and allowing them to begin steps toward their end goals in a hands-on and interactive environment is key to their achieving success. This year, they are celebrating the opportunities that girls and boys will discover and the opportunities for parents, mentors, and the community to continue involvement in this unique educational experience.
