This is Tammy. She’s a friend and coworker. (I love that “co-worker”
begins with “cow”.)
During a binary counting exercise. Trust her. She knows. |
She’s one of the Cowculator’s biggest fans. So much
so, she became a Cowculator yesterday
at work right along three udder colleagues.
Cape-able Cows |
Our company hosted a field trip of 290 students and 30 chaperones
and the five of us boarded each bus as they arrived to give the day’s welcome –
Cowculator style.
We had a script to tell the kids the following:
Organizing the Herd |
Greetings!
My name is – but today I’m talking to you as “The Cowculator!” A lesser-known super hero. Solver of
problems; lover of STEM – Science Technology Engineering and Math. Before you come
into our corporate corral, I’ve got a few important announcements. Some bull-et
points. Or a Cattle-log of things. There are 3 C’s just like “Cowculator” to
help you remember.
First C – Careers.
That’s why you’re here
today. You’ve got a little time before you need to decide what you’d like to do
in life, but this is exactly when you should be thinking about your future and
a possible career. You know – a job that will put a roof over your corral and
food in the trough, and afford some of the fun things. Pay attention to the careers like no udder
that you’ll be exposed to today.
Second C –Capes.
Usually we think of
super heroes who wear capes. Super heroes solve problems. They have a fearless
approach to problem-solving; they have confidence and courage to tackle hard
things. Just like professionals in a
tech field. You are going to see some
things that look complicated or overwhelming today. You might think, “this is
way outta my league” or “I’m not smart enough to do that”. Bull!
Imagine your own cape. You’ve all got the capacity to do hard things.
Third C - Courtesy
Although you’re
outside of your corral today, you’ve coming to our company corral today. Please
remember, our colleagues are working and need to continue to get stuff done. Be
courteous to them. And also – you may have a classmate who’s interested in
what’s being presented, who’s imagining their own cape, be courteous to them.
Please don’t detract from their experience.
Three engineers, an operations manager and an admin. Women you can cownt on. |
And, boy, what an experience the day was! We had over 40 employees corralling kids and
giving workshops on semiconductor processing, failure analysis, concepts of
electricity and the power of innovation.
Tammy was the event’s Head Heifer. The Divine Bovine. The Main Moo. She
thought of every little detail from color-coded name tags, to lunches for the
volunteers, to photo-ops, to the welcome sign, to parting gifts for the
students and chaperones – and the bus drivers.
Two of the six bus drivers opted to join in on the day’s
tours and near the end when the students were eating lunch, Tammy escorted them
back through security. I saw Tammy after she returned from the parking lot
making her deliveries and asked where she had been.
“Oh, just making a bus driver cry.”
Earlier in the day, Tammy showed me the gifts she prepared for
each driver with a company water bottle and pen – because, really. The bus
drivers were critical players in getting loads of kids including our next
generation of scientists and engineers to our facility. She told me that one of
the bus drivers, a man, started to tear up and said,
“Wow. No one ever thinks
of the bus driver. Thank you.”
And there we were. Standing still in our corporate
corral, now both of us tearing up at that exchange. Students were swarming in
the halls and conference rooms around us. Volunteers were scarfing lunches. It
was a brief moment before we re-began the bustle because that’s how we both
work. A zillion things and thoughts churning, and we’re acutely aware
of most of it while getting stuff done.
And, Tammy gets it done. She’s a natural Cowculator, solving
problems and figuring it all out. She does the thinking behind the scenes when many just see the result. It makes me happy that the bus driver appreciated her thoughtfulness, because I do, too. A Divine Bovine, indeed
"One way or an udder, I'll get it done!" |