MARCHing Closer to Spring!
March is here, bringing us one step closer to the warmth and renewal of spring! I always find joy in the soothing sound of the rain as it gently taps against the trees and the pavement, a reminder of nature’s rhythm. The rain nourishes the soil, refreshing the earth and making way for the beauty of springtime to bloom.
This month is packed with exciting opportunities to learn, grow, and celebrate together! We’re kicking off March by honoring Women’s History Month, recognizing the incredible contributions of women throughout history and within our community. Plus, we have some fantastic events lined up, including Lab Day, where we’ll dive into Capstone planning, Field Day, an exciting adventure exploring the incredible wonders of our oceans, and a special Hangout, a chance to relax, connect, and showcase who you truly are—inside and out!
There’s so much to look forward to, and we can’t wait to experience it all with you. Stay tuned for more details on these upcoming events, and let’s make March a month to remember!
Upcoming Events
SPIN Hangout #2
Friday, March 7th from 6:00pm to 8:00pm
Lab Day #3
Saturday, March 15th from 9:00am to 1:00pm
Field Day #4
February 15th 9:20-1:30 p.m.
So much to celebrate in March!
March is a month of reflection, celebration, and spiritual observance, marked by significant events across different communities.
Women’s History Month
March is dedicated to honoring the achievements and contributions of women throughout history. It highlights their struggles and successes in fields such as science, politics, arts, and social activism. This month serves as a reminder of the progress made toward gender equity while recognizing the ongoing efforts needed for true equality.
Ramadan
Starting at the end of February, Ramadan is a sacred month in Islam, observed by Muslims worldwide. It is a time of fasting, prayer, reflection, and community. From dawn until sunset, Muslims refrain from eating and drinking, focusing on spiritual growth and self-discipline. Acts of charity, kindness, and strengthening bonds with loved ones are central to this period.
Eid al-Fitr
Marking the end of Ramadan, Eid al-Fitr—the "Festival of Breaking the Fast"—is a joyous celebration. Muslims come together for special prayers, festive meals, and charitable giving. Families and friends exchange gifts and express gratitude, embracing the spirit of generosity and unity.
Lent
Lent is a 40-day Christian observance leading up to Easter, beginning on Ash Wednesday and ending on Holy Saturday. It commemorates Jesus’ 40 days of fasting in the desert and emphasizes self-discipline, prayer, and repentance. Many Christians use this time for spiritual reflection and sacrifice, often giving up certain foods or habits to deepen their faith.
March Madness
March Madness is the annual NCAA Division I Men’s and Women’s Basketball Tournament, held every March and April. It’s an elimination tournament featuring 68 men’s and 68 women’s college basketball teams competing for a national championship title. The tournament is known for its unpredictability, upsets, and buzzer-beaters, making it one of the most exciting events in sports.
Recap of Field Day #3
We jumped straight into our second lab day filled with exciting and hands-on activities! It was incredible to see the creativity of the youth shine as we explored their potential as both amazing artists and brilliant scientists.
What Did We Learn About?
Institute for Community Leadership
6th, 7th, and 8th Grade: We traveled to the Institute for Community Leadership, where we learned how to care for ourselves and others in the outdoors. Working together, we practiced tying knots, built a raft, and even helped care for the farm animals on the property! We ended the day with s'mores and a campfire!
Blue Origin
9th and 10th Grade: We visited Blue Origin where we got a firsthand look at careers in aerospace. Youth explored the Engineering Design Process by improvising and building their own rovers! The day wrapped up with a career talk, where staff shared their career paths and advice for youth interested in pursuing aerospace engineering.
Riddle of the Month!
I swim in waters, deep and wide,
Dreams and secrets are where I hide.
Emotional, gentle, creative too,
A pair of fish—who am I to you?
Keeping Up with the SPIN Girls Team!
8th Grade Mentor: Michelle McKeag
Introduce yourself a little:
Hi, my name is Michelle McKeag, and I am an Enterprise Data Architect with the King County government. I grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and went to University City High School. This high school was unique because it was situated in the vicinity of universities like the University of Pennsylvania and it had an elite math and science magnet program. I was part of this program and genuinely enjoyed it because of the specialized and advanced math and science classes. In addition, because this program had a small cohort, I got to build friendships with, work with, and learn from people who were also passionate about math and science.
After I graduated high school, I went into the informational technology (IT) workfield. While working, I went to night school and got an associates degree. Because IT is an ever-evolving field, I stay up to date about the latest technologies by continuously learning and gaining advanced certifications.
Throughout my career I’ve lived and worked in several cities throughout the U.S. I’ve lived in Dallas in Texas, Cleveland in Ohio, San Francisco-Bay Area in California, and now Seattle in Washington. I moved here in 1994 because I had friends who lived in Washington who suggested that it was a great state in which to live. I ended up feeling the same way because I’ve lived here ever since.
What is your current job?
In my job as an Enterprise Data Architect, I am responsible for designing databases to contain King County’s criminal justice data. My role is crucial in handling criminal justice data and ensuring data quality, security, and accessibility. I achieve this by regularly working with clients, such as agencies that manage the jails, the prosecutor’s office, and the courts, while building databases and reporting solutions. These clients may request reports on things like; how many people are arrested, the movement of people in jail, what the criminal record or history of a person is, and other things requiring access to criminal justice data. This shows the importance of databases and how the front-end of an application needs to properly retrieve information stored in the back-end of an application, in order to maximize efficiency while creating these reports.
The front-end of an application is the client side, focusing more on visuals, user experience (UX), and functionality. Examples of this are navigation menus and buttons, interactive elements like search bars and sliders, and responsive design for different screen sizes. On the contrary, the back-end of an application is the server side, focusing more on data storage, retrieval, and security. While the front-end is visible to the user or client, the back-end is not but is still crucial in processing requests from the front-end, interactions with databases, and smooth system operations. When databases are not properly designed, there can be performance issues, data inconsistency, scalability challenges, and security risks. Therefore, it is essential to have strong organizational and problem-solving skills and a careful attention to detail during the creation and maintenance of databases.
What future goals do you have?
I have been in the IT field for about 40 years now, and I’ve decided it’s time to move on to new and different types of challenges. When I was younger, I certainly enjoyed the constant cycle of learning upcoming and novel technologies. Every five years or so, there are shifts in the IT field where we transition from old programs and approaches to new ones that force workers to learn and adapt in order to be successful.
For instance, before our current era of cloud computing people relied on on-premises infrastructure, including physical servers, data centers, and local storage. However, now with cloud computing, people can access these computing services like servers, storage, databases, networking, and software over the internet or virtually. As another example, programming languages come and go. I started out using COBOL, PL/1, and DB2. Now C#, Python, and T-SQL are the norm. Learning new languages and processes has given me a rewarding and challenging career, however I am looking forward to the new and different challenges that retirement can bring.
I hope to start traveling more and learning more languages to broaden my worldview and cultural understanding. In addition, I want to continue my hobbies of sewing and arts and crafts, which I do for personal enjoyment and also as a way to share gifts with family, friends, and loved ones. I may even start a YouTube channel to share my experiences and expertise in working with databases since many people don’t realize how much of an effect databases and their accuracy (or lack thereof) can have on their everyday lives.
If you could describe yourself in three words, what would they be?
My three words to describe myself would be diligent, dependable, and poised. Throughout my career, I have distinguished myself as diligent/hard-working by keeping up with the latest technologies in my field, consistently producing good work, and developing strong communication and collaboration skills. Despite the challenges, I persist. I am dependable not only in my professional life, but also in my personal obligations. I always strive to keep my promises and commitments as evidenced by the fact that I have been a SPIN girls mentor for the last four years. I know that others know, they can count on me. Lastly, due to recent emergencies in my life, I am reminded that my superpower is poise. I can remain calm and composed in a crisis.
What motivated you to join SPIN Girls?
I have previously done volunteer work that is similar to SPIN Girls, which is teaching young students programming. I taught students remotely how to use Scratch who then applied their skills in a final capstone project like creating a game. In addition, I helped fix any issues and offered suggestions on how to make their software better. While I enjoyed working with the youth, I recognized that I was more passionate about back-end databases than front-end programming. Furthermore, I wanted to teach more girls and people of color and be a helpful resource to them as a mentor. This led me to SPIN Girls four years ago, and I have been with them since then!
Aside from SPIN Girls, I have found other ways to support girls and people of color by giving talks to local organizations that focus on uplifting these groups of people like Project Girl in North Seattle. In that particular experience, I was a panelist that talked to young ladies about job interviews and professional development. I explained to them what to expect, how to answer basic questions, roleplayed as an interviewer, and gave general career preparation advice.
What are you most looking forward to this year in SPIN Girls?
In my first two years with SPIN Girls, I remembered how one to two students were assigned a mentor in each cohort. While I personally connected well with my mentees, I understand that sometimes these assignments do not always work out, and that is totally okay. However, with the new structure where mentors get to flow freely among students, I’ve gotten to interact with a wide range of students in each cohort. With this in mind, I am excited to continue bonding with the students in my 8th grade cohort. Furthermore, I would love to go to Mount St. Helens this summer for the SPIN retreat!
What advice would you give to current SPIN Girls students?
Continue with the program! From what I’ve heard and observed, people who have gone through the whole program have found it enjoyable and rewarding. It can be incredibly tempting to sleep-in during early Saturday morning, but SPIN Girls offers many great opportunities to learn new things and have fun doing it.
Have you heard about our Fellows Program?
SPIN Fellows supports SPIN Girls graduates in 11th & 12th grade in achieving their college and/or career goals. SPIN Fellows empowers SPIN Girls with individualized support and resources, building on the trusted relationships they have fostered with their fellow SPIN Girls, mentors, & SPIN staff members. The highly individualized nature of this program makes it unique among other college & career preparation programs.
Students who graduate from SPIN Girls are invited to apply for SPIN Fellows in the Spring of their 10th grade year. 10 Fellows are accepted based on their commitment to SPIN Girls and their interest in pursuing a STEM career.
The SPIN Fellows juniors and seniors partnered with the First Tech Credit union to learn more about financial literacy. We talked all about the best budgeting, spending, and credit card practices! This will be an important skill for college and beyond, so it was great for the youth to learn real life skills that will benefit their futures!
