More than 1,100 children, teens, TI employees and contractors attended this year's "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work" Day at TI.

They built a roller coaster for marbles, got up close and personal with birds of prey, watched robots perform, smocked up like a fab worker for a photo session and tried out lots of different products with TI parts inside.

But most of all, the 700 children and teens who participated in the 19th-annual "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work" Day at TI recently experienced a shift in thinking from user to creator and developer of the technologies that make handheld devices work.

This year's event, titled "Get in the Game: Create Tomorrow's Technology," was sponsored by the TI Diversity Network and led by Terry Howard, TI's director of Diversity and Inclusion. More than 1,100 children, teens, TI employees and contractors attended the event.

"Our dedicated team of more than 100 TI volunteers really went above and beyond the call of duty this year to make this event memorable for everyone who attended," said Rich Irwin, Senior Member of Technical Staff and 2012 event co-chair.

"In addition to giving the young people a taste of what goes on in their parent's workplace, we wanted to inspire them to think about technology in a different way and get excited about careers that will bring them to TI in the future."

Children participating in TI's "Take Our Daughters and Sons to Work Day" even were exposed to a range of activities at various booths sponsored by TI business organizations and employee initiatives.

Helping girls change their lives
In addition to hosting TI children, relatives and friends, 13 girls and three chaperones from the Nexus Recovery Center, a United Way agency in Dallas, attended the event to learn more about engineering, math, science and TI.

Each of these girls participated in the event with the support of a TI escort, who guided them through the displays and helped them get the most out of the TI experience.

Rhonda Moreno, a TI employee, was one of these escorts. After guiding a girl through the event, she found the experience to be so rewarding that she is now exploring serving as a Nexus volunteer during her free time.

"I so enjoyed being able to show my young lady that you can make a difference in your life as well as in your community," Moreno said. "She opened up a lot with me, and I believe she wants to change and make a difference in this world."

Paul Early, another TI employee who helped coordinate the effort to include the girls in the event, said opportunities like this really can change lives.

"I knew in my heart that this would be a very meaningful experience for each of these girls, and I am delighted to hear such positive feedback from the TI escorts who were paired with them on a one-on-one basis," Early said.

"We should be proud of our diversity network teams and all of the volunteers for the initiative they took and the energy they showed in helping to make this a very special experience for everyone who attended."

Down to a science
Some of the booths and activities set up for the event gave participants the opportunity to:

• See a robot built by university students shoot and dunk basketballs into a net.
• Learn about "A Green Future" by planting seedlings.
• See liquid nitrogen in action as part of an exciting live display.
• View light spectrum, mid-infrared, visible light and ultra-violet light sources.
• Build with Legos and play with automated Lego creations.