Apr 17, 2024
By Victoria Grdina
The Nebraska and Southwest Iowa Regional Affiliate 2024 NCWIT Aspirations in Computing Award Celebration was held Sunday, April 7, at the International Quilt Study Center and Museum.
The ceremony recognized 40+ young women scholars at the high school level in Nebraska and Southwest Iowa for their computing-related achievements, interests, and goals. Honorees were selected based on computing and IT aptitude, leadership ability, academic history and plans for post-secondary education. Each student submitted an application in the fall, and all applications were accompanied by an educator endorsement. In addition to receiving awards, honorees were also inducted into the Aspirations in Computing community and will receive additional scholarship opportunities through the University of Nebraska–Lincoln and University of Nebraska Omaha.
This year’s ceremony included welcoming remarks from College of Engineering Dean Lance Perez, UNO College of Information Science and Technology Dean Martha Garcia-Murillo, and School of Computing Director Witawas Srisa-an. The ceremony also included remarks from two local industry members: Hudl software engineer Sierra Futterman and co-founder of Girls Code Lincoln and founder of The Nonprofiting Org Aakriti Agrawal. Following the ceremony, event attendees were given a tour of the College of Engineering’s recently opened Kiewit Hall.
Among the award recipients were 16 rising stars, 16 honorable mentions, and 13 winners.
Rising Stars:
• Izzy Campie, junior, Marian High School, LaVista, NE
• Grace Comstock, senior, Marian High School, Omaha, NE
• Madeline Cooley, sophomore, Gretna High School, Gretna, NE
• Maya Corey, freshman, Westside High School, Omaha, NE
• Téa Corey, freshman, Westside High School, Omaha, NE
• Zo Dohmen, freshman, Millard West High School, Omaha, NE
• Olivia Hicks, senior, Marian High School, Gretna, NE
• Skylar Miller, sophomore, Gretna High School, Gretna, NE
• Betsy Piernicky, senior, Marian High School, Omaha, NE
• Julia Ramadan, junior, Marian High School, Omaha, NE
• Mackenzie Reidy, junior, Marian High School, Omaha, NE
• Vandana Santhanam, freshman, Marian High School, Omaha, NE
• Vasudha Santhanam, freshman, Marian High School, Omaha, NE
• Claire Savage, freshman, Millard North High School, Omaha, NE
• Aja Smith, senior, Marian High School, Omaha, NE
• Zoe Vinson, senior, Marian High School, Omaha, NE
Honorable Mentions:
• Ashley Antunez, junior, Bryan High School, Omaha, NE
• Sydney Bognich, sophomore, Millard West High School, Omaha, NE
• Olivia Camerer, junior, Marian High School, Omaha, NE
• Paige Case, senior, Millard North High School, Omaha, NE
• Katherine Dietz, sophomore, Marian High School, Omaha, NE
• Crystal Gonzalez, senior, Marian High School, Omaha, NE
• Ana Guillen, junior, Marian High School, Bennington, NE
• Martha Hinneh, senior, Marian High School, Omaha, NE
• Emma Koch, senior, Marian High School, Omaha, NE
• Vaibhavi Kota, sophomore, Millard North High School, Elkhorn, NE
• Caroline McDonald, junior, Marian High School, Bennington, NE
• Riya Pawar, senior, Millard North High School, Elkhorn, NE
• Emma Rhode, senior, Millard North High School, Omaha, NE
• Kaylee Taylor, senior, Gretna High School, Gretna, NE
• Khushi Tripathi, sophomore, Millard North High School, Omaha, NE
• Keerthana Vinod, junior, Millard North High School, Omaha, NE
Winners:
• Meghna Adduri, junior, Millard North High School, Omaha, NE
• Tvisha Agarwal, senior, Millard West High School, Omaha, NE
• Laxmi Akshaya Komaragiri, senior, Millard North High School, Omaha, NE
• Mackenzie Bolton, junior, Southwest High School, Lincoln, NE
• Julia Clausen, senior, Millard North High School, Omaha, NE
• Darian Kauk, senior, Lincoln East High School, Lincoln, NE
• Nicole Liu, junior, Millard North High School, Omaha, NE
• Jessica Lu, junior, Millard North High School, Elkhorn, NE
• Advika Namasivayam, senior, Millard North High School, Omaha, NE
• Aubrey Nguyen, junior, Duchesne Academy of the Sacred Heart, Omaha, NE
• Antonina Shabaltiy, senior, Millard West High School, Omaha, NE
• Audrey Wilcoxson, senior, Gretna High School, Gretna, NE
• Christina Xu, senior, Lincoln East High School, Lincoln, NE
The National Center for Women & Information Technology (NCWIT) is a coalition working to increase diversity in IT and computing. NCWIT believes that greater diversity in computing will create a larger and more competitive workforce, and promote the design of technology that is as broad and innovative as the population it serves. NCWIT focuses on improving diversity across the entire spectrum: K-12 through college education, and on to academic, corporate and entrepreneurial careers.
Aspirations in Computing is a talent development initiative designed to increase female participation in technology careers by providing encouragement, visibility, community, leadership opportunities, scholarships, and internships to aspiring technically inclined young women. Since 2007, NCWIT has inducted more than 10,000 young women into the Aspirations in Computing community and is helping to usher these women into technology careers.
The NCWIT Aspirations in Computing program is sponsored nationally by Apple, AT&T, Bank of America, Bloomberg, DoD STEM, Jane Street, Match Group, Microsoft, and Shopify.
This year’s event was co-coordinated by Associate Professor Bonita Sharif and Charles Bessey Professor Leen-Kiat Soh of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln School of Computing, Senior Lecturer Sandy Vlasnik and Associate Professor Kate Cooper of the University of Nebraska at Omaha.
If you are interested in applying for the Aspirations in Computing Awards or participating in this effort or next year’s event, please contact one of the co-coordinators.
More details at: https://www.aspirations.org/affiliate/nebraska-sw-iowa