Friday, April 26, 1996
Annual day’s goal to boost desire for education and careersBy
Toni Dimayuga
Daily Bruin Contributor
As Carrie Metzgar finished sending an e-mail, Taylor Eddins
checked for voice mail messages at a nearby desk. These two
however, have yet to enter the workplace  in fact, they’re
still in elementary school.
Carrie and Taylor are among the millions of girls nationwide who
participated in Thursday’s National Take our Daughters to Work Day,
in which adults were encouraged to bring their daughters, or other
female relatives, to work for the day.
The program was enacted in 1993 by the Ms. Foundation for Women
, an organization dedicated to the pursuit of gender equity, to
encourage young girls to aspire for an education and a career.
Employees at the Conference and Event Management department
organized a day of activities for the visiting girls.
Betsy Metzgar, scheduling manager of the department and the
mother of six-year-old Carrie, explained that she has been
participating in the event for years.
Stacy Eddins, a schedule coordinator, explained that she brought
five-year old Taylor to show her "what mommy does at work" while
Taylor is usually at school.
After completing the first item on the agenda  lunch in
Griffin Commons  the mothers taught their daughters how to
check e-mail and voice mail. The group then visited the conference
and management offices, where employees explained what their
department does.
Winnie Glass, director of UCLA Conference and Event Management,
met with the youngsters and asked them about their day. The girls
were particularly impressed by the Griffin Commons cuisine.
"I had an apple, some ice cream,and a soda," said eight-year old
Jenna, tugging at her tie-dyed blue dress.
At one point Glass also asked each of the girls if they knew
what their mothers did for a living.
"Um, she helps people who wanna go on an airplane," Carrie
explained, her blonde head bent as she looked down.
But not all of the girls were pre-teen  Natasha Briggs,
15, said that she has been participating in this program ever since
her mother Victoria started working in Conference and Event
Management. Briggs stayed near the back of the group as the tour
went on.
After seeing their mothers’ offices, many of the girls expressed
excitement at the prospect of working.
"I want to work here!" exclaimed five-year old Gabby, a
brown-haired girl in a red shirt and red checkered shorts.
Despite their limited knowledge of the working world, the girls
knew Glass’ position.
"You’re the boss!" they exclaimed in unison.
After visiting their mothers’ offices, the girls toured Sunset
Village and Reiber Hall, where they were given UCLA sunglasses
"Thank you," the girls chorused, handing the glasses to nearby
adults to remove the wrapping.
The last stop of the tour was at the Sunset Canyon Recreation
swimming pool, where the girls bent down to touch the water.
After the tour, Eddins described other activities she planned to
share with her daughter, which included surfing the internet.
"We’re going to do some filing, and I publish the campus
calendar, and I’m going to show her the calendar, how it works,
show her the World Wide Web," Eddins said, as Taylor smiled,
wearing her mother’s headset.