With high expectations, members of Langley Middle School’s Girls in Technology club took a day off school in January and climbed aboard a school bus for a field trip to Microsoft.

Would they shake Bill Gate’s hand? Would he have money hidden in his palm to secretly slip them?

During the ride to the company’s Redmond office campus, foremost in the girls’ minds was the idea that Bill Gates is the richest man in the world and he must have millions to give away, and perhaps even a few dollars for them.

The thought was a natural one for the girls. Their program, which teaches them more about how computers work and how to work them than they learn in their regular classes, is completely funded by grants.

They would learn that, yes, Microsoft and its employees have a good deal of money to give away in the form of donations. But as it turned out, there wasn’t any to go to school kids on a field trip.

“I thought we’d meet Bill Gates and he’d give us a million dollars,” said LMS sixth grader Karen Ritta, talking about what she would do with some pocket change from the world’s wealthiest man. “I’d buy a kitten and cat toys if I had a million.”

Girls in Technology was formed three years ago to make computer technology fun and approachable for girls. Victoria Santos, co-director of Girls in Technology, said girls in the club have learned to design Web sites, create videos, and use IMOVIE software to create special effects — something done regularly in Hollywood movies.

They’ve also delved into the literal guts of computer technology. During Girls in Technology meetings, group members take apart computers and learn how the components work. They have also used computer parts to create art projects.

“We’ve made clocks using old computer parts,” she said. “We have girls open up the computers so they know how they work inside.”

A rare treat

As it was, seeing the inner workings at Microsoft was more difficult than cracking into a PC hard drive. The girls in the class were lucky to even get onto the Microsoft campus. Student tours at Microsoft are not common practice, said Stacy Drake, a spokeswoman for Microsoft. When they do happen, they’re short.

“We do not have a formal tour program where kids come in to visit,” Drake said.

Joining 18 LMS students were several students from South Whidbey High School, as well as homeschool students from Coupeville and Snohomish.

The Whidbey girls’ short visit to the world’s leading software company — which earned $28.37 billion in its most recent fiscal year — involved a short walk from the school bus to the lobby of Building #27 and into a conference room.

They got only a quick look at the Microsoft campus, a small city of 35,000 employees with nearly 100 buildings comprising 8.3 million square feet. Rectangular, low-storied offices with brick and beige concrete facades in tidy blocks along landscaped streets was all there was to see from the outside.

The day was like many the girls have spent in their school classrooms, only at Microsoft the teachers were employees of the software giant.

One of the first things they learned after sitting down in the conference room was that they might have a future at Microsoft. Women employees currently comprise about a quarter of Microsoft’s work force in the Puget Sound area. As of last June, 26.1 percent or 9,042 of the company’s 34,591 Western Washington employees were women.

The company is trying to get more girls interested in technology in hopes of employing them when they grow up to be women. Microsoft runs a summer high school camp called DigiGirlz, has a job-shadow program and promotes “Take your daughters to work day.”

Drake said these programs are meant to combat a negative trend in computer science.

“The number of women with computer science degrees is declining,” she said.

Hosting the LMS girls for most of their time at the Redmond campus was Trina Seinfeld, a petite blond woman who works in public relations at Microsoft. Hired in 1993 as an administrative assistant, Seinfeld earned a masters degree in business because she wanted to further her career and promote new products. She is also involved in Gates’ corporate giving program.

Seinfeld’s has a connection with Whidbey Island and LMS: Her father, Bill Carlstrom of Freeland, mentors and advises the Youth in Philanthropy program. Students from Girls in Technology joined YIP for the Microsoft trip.

Computers equal philanthropy

Inside Building #27 Cathy MacCaul, Microsoft’s communications manager for Community Affairs, asked for a show of hands on how many were familiar with computers and Microsoft products. Most of the 40 or so visitors’ hands went up. She told them that 1 billion computers are in use worldwide.

Then, tying technology and philanthropy together — as the visiting LMS classes did with their joint field trip — she talked about Microsoft and how its employees help other people.

“Each $1 that Microsoft employees donate to a charitable cause is matched by Microsoft, up to $12,000 per employee per year,” MacCaul said. “Last year, employees raised $28 million (including Microsoft’s matching funds). With high unemployment, hunger and homelessness, we want to respond.”

MacCaul said that Microsoft has also donated $207 million a year in software and $49 million a year in cash to help 5,000 nonprofit agencies worldwide.

Those figures seemed to be more than just dollar amounts to MacCaul. Cherese Taggart, a member of the Girls in Technology program, wanted to find out how work and giving were related.

“Do you enjoy working here?” Taggart asked.

MacCaul told her she does.

“I worked with World Visions, a Christian relief fund,” she said. “I heard that Microsoft had great vision and technology that can transform people’s lives. (Working for a nonprofit) I was frustrated at the struggle to get enough money to keep afloat.”

NormaJean Elgas, LMS student advocate, and Victoria Santos know the feeling. Each year they must search for funding sources to keep their program going. Whidbey’s Arise Foundatation funded a two-year grant for Girls in Technology at LMS that ends this year.

Santos says there is a growing class difference between those who understand technology and those who don’t. Girls in Technology will help at least a few young people keep up with it.

Questions answered, questions remained

Learning from MacCaul that there are currently more than 5,000 jobs open with Microsoft, a number of students started talking at once, asking how they can come aboard, even if they are only 12, 13 or 14. They will probably have to wait. According to Microsoft’s Web page, only five employees in the company are under 20 years old.

The inevitable question eventually came up: How much does Bill Gates make?

MacCaul told them, saying Gate’s annual salary is only $150,000. She did not mention his income made from owning Microsoft stock.

The day was over more quickly than the students wanted. Back on t he school bus and heading back to school, many of the Girls in Technology said they had hoped to hear more than the lecture they received. Some had hoped to see Bill Gates showing off the new “Dick Tracy” wristwatch, which they had seen on the news that morning. The wristwatch allows its owner to check email and messages.

Others had hoped for a tour to see what kinds of technology Microsoft is working on.

“I wanted to explore Microsoft and meet Bill Gates and I was disappointed I didn’t get to meet him,” said Kari Nelson.

Another student, Rachel Cook, said she could see that Microsoft has a ways to go to be an egalitarian employer, at least when it comes to the gender makeup of its workforce.

“I was surprised there aren’t as many women in the workforce,” she said.

While they girls had hoped to meet Bill Gates, view the latest software and fantasized about getting a handout, they learned instead how to give a hand up to someone who needs it and that there is an interest on Microsoft’s part to attract more women to the world of technology. Perhaps after this trip, they will want to join it.