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Former Husker and NFL Pro Tony Veland Scores Touchdowns for Tech

Not everyone can be an athlete, but everyone can learn.

That’s the advice one-time Nebraska Husker Tony Veland has. Veland, Director of Community Engagement for AIM Institute, played for the University of Nebraska from 1991 to 1995, first as a quarterback, then as a free safety. After graduation, he was drafted into the NFL. He played free safety for the Denver Broncos from 1996 to 1997, and the Carolina Panthers in 1998.

Now he works hard to spread the word about AIM and to attract investment into its vital tech education and career development initiatives.

“I can’t write a line of code,” Veland says. “But what I can do is provide opportunities to kids who want to get into the tech space.”

Veland is taking part in a giveaway to raise money to do exactly that. Tomorrow’s Touchdown 4 Tech drawing offers you the chance to win four free tickets to the sold-out Nebraska spring game on April 13. Every $20 you donate to AIM’s youth-in-tech programs will earn you an entry into the drawing. Veland will announce the winner on Facebook Live at 10 am CDT tomorrow.

The Computer is the New Ball

Coming of age in the Benson area of Omaha, Veland played a lot of sports.

“I grew up in a low-income neighborhood,” Veland says. “I had my mother and father around, but we didn’t make enough money to afford me being able to go to college without some type of scholarship. So I knew that, in essence, I was going to have to create my own way.”

Athletics helped him pay for his college education. They also earned him automatic credibility with the audiences he engages as AIM’s Director of Community Engagement and as a motivational speaker.

“Sports are a unifier. If you take music out of the equation, it’s probably one of the biggest unifiers out there. People just love and gravitate toward sports. And when you have somebody who’s done well in the past, people tend to respect them. All of a sudden, you have some influence.”

After leaving the NFL, Veland became a financial advisor for many years. He enjoyed the job, but eventually started to feel a different calling. A friend told him about the work AIM Institute was doing with their youth educational programs. Veland loved the idea of using his influence to spread the word about AIM.

“When I had a chance to hear what AIM does, it was just attractive, the ability for me to do something every day that would have a direct impact to kids who need opportunities.”

In fact, during the Touchdown 4 Tech video shoot, Veland took time between takes to address a student audience at the Brain Exchange building in downtown Omaha. The Brain Exchange is an AIM program that provides tech education to youth who might not otherwise have access to it.

He gave the students a message of hope and solidarity.

“Even the great athletes have gone through their trials, and I think people need to hear that sometimes. And I think people also need to know that there are people are care.”

Tony Veland’s Top Tips for Life

  1. Work hard at whatever you do.
  2. Surround yourself with good people.  
  3. Set goals.
  4. Network!
  5. Find a mentor.
  6. Learn to believe in yourself.
  7. Learn how to conquer adversity.

Former Husker and NFL Pro Tony Veland Scores Touchdowns for Tech

Not everyone can be an athlete, but everyone can learn.

That’s the advice one-time Nebraska Husker Tony Veland has. Veland, Director of Community Engagement for AIM Institute, played for the University of Nebraska from 1991 to 1995, first as a quarterback, then as a free safety. After graduation, he was drafted into the NFL. He played free safety for the Denver Broncos from 1996 to 1997, and the Carolina Panthers in 1998.

Now he works hard to spread the word about AIM and to attract investment into its vital tech education and career development initiatives.

“I can’t write a line of code,” Veland says. “But what I can do is provide opportunities to kids who want to get into the tech space.”

Veland is taking part in a giveaway to raise money to do exactly that. Tomorrow’s Touchdown 4 Tech drawing offers you the chance to win four free tickets to the sold-out Nebraska spring game on April 13. Every $20 you donate to AIM’s youth-in-tech programs will earn you an entry into the drawing. Veland will announce the winner on Facebook Live at 10 am CDT tomorrow.

The Computer is the New Ball

Coming of age in the Benson area of Omaha, Veland played a lot of sports.

“I grew up in a low-income neighborhood,” Veland says. “I had my mother and father around, but we didn’t make enough money to afford me being able to go to college without some type of scholarship. So I knew that, in essence, I was going to have to create my own way.”

Athletics helped him pay for his college education. They also earned him automatic credibility with the audiences he engages as AIM’s Director of Community Engagement and as a motivational speaker.

“Sports are a unifier. If you take music out of the equation, it’s probably one of the biggest unifiers out there. People just love and gravitate toward sports. And when you have somebody who’s done well in the past, people tend to respect them. All of a sudden, you have some influence.”

After leaving the NFL, Veland became a financial advisor for many years. He enjoyed the job, but eventually started to feel a different calling. A friend told him about the work AIM Institute was doing with their youth educational programs. Veland loved the idea of using his influence to spread the word about AIM.

“When I had a chance to hear what AIM does, it was just attractive, the ability for me to do something every day that would have a direct impact to kids who need opportunities.”

In fact, during the Touchdown 4 Tech video shoot, Veland took time between takes to address a student audience at the Brain Exchange building in downtown Omaha. The Brain Exchange is an AIM program that provides tech education to youth who might not otherwise have access to it.

He gave the students a message of hope and solidarity.

“Even the great athletes have gone through their trials, and I think people need to hear that sometimes. And I think people also need to know that there are people are care.”

Tony Veland’s Top Tips for Life

  1. Work hard at whatever you do.
  2. Surround yourself with good people.  
  3. Set goals.
  4. Network!
  5. Find a mentor.
  6. Learn to believe in yourself.
  7. Learn how to conquer adversity.

 

Click here to donate to Touchdown 4 Tech and be entered to win four tickets to the sold-out April 13 Nebraska spring game!

Digital Citizenship in a Flood

The worst flood in recent memory hit Nebraska last month, causing over $1.3 billion in damages and forcing at least 4,000 people to evacuate their homes. Although traditional news outlets reported on the devastating event, social media coverage quickly outpaced traditional coverage. People’s timelines and newsfeeds became saturated with images of calamity: floodwaters rising to the eaves of family houses, torn-up roads like bombed-out lunar surfaces, a single cow struggling across muddy water.

Users began marking themselves safe on Facebook. They shared information about supply drives, donation platforms, and other ways to help flood victims. And they bemoaned the fact that national news outlets did not seem to be covering the disaster in sufficient detail.

It was digital citizenship in action.

The Meaning of Digital Citizenship

Digital citizenship is a broad term, encompassing issues of cybersecurity, cyberbullying, civic activism—any form of online behavior, basically. It is “the responsible use of technology to learn, create, and participate.” What you do online reflects who you are offline, for better or worse.

While a lot of the conversation around digital citizenship necessarily deals with keeping oneself safe online, one thing is sure: social media can be a powerful force for good, especially in times of crisis.  

Helping a Funny Guy Out

When Missouri River floodwaters inundated the western Iowa home of comedian Tyler Walsh, he was devastated. Walsh and his girlfriend, Bailey, lost everything. Forced to evacuate, they had nowhere to go.

That’s when comedians Zach Peterson and Dusty Stehl stepped in to help. They rebranded Stehl’s weekly comedy open mic at Omaha’s Barley Street Tavern as a special edition fundraiser for Walsh and Bailey. People could give money in person or donate to a GoFundMe account to help cover some of the couple’s expenses.

“I got the idea for the fundraiser when I was on Facebook and became overwhelmed with all the pictures I saw of the flooding,” Peterson said.

Peterson reached out to Stehl, who immediately agreed the fundraiser was a great idea.

“Tyler is a frequent guest host of the Barley Street Tavern Comedy Open Mic, so he’s well known,” Stehl said. “He’s a good guy, so he’s well-liked.”

Peterson and Stehl shared the event on their social media networks, as did many local comedians.  

About 40 people came out to the fundraiser, packing the cozy Barley Street Tavern venue last Wednesday. Thirty-five comedians did sets. Onstage, Walsh tried out new, flood-inspired jokes, to loud support.

“He had a great set!” Stehl said.

Between in-person donations and contributions to Walsh’s GoFundMe account, the night helped raise nearly $2,000 for the stricken couple.

“I want to say the biggest thank you in the world to the Omaha comedy scene,” Walsh posted on his Facebook account the following morning. “Thank you so much, thank you to all the comics that came out, raised money, and reached out. It’s all incredibly overwhelming how much everyone has done for us. Omaha comedy is truly a community I am proud to be a part of.”

The fundraiser is a powerful example of good digital citizenship. Social media activism leveraged heart-wrenching photographs, grassroots reporting of disaster, the urge to help out, and crowdfunding technology against great catastrophe, and helped soften the hard times for a family in crisis.

Things to Watch Out For

AIM Institute’s Lana Yager teaches a course at the Brain Exchange on digital citizenship, called Gen Cyber. Gen Cyber helps youth think not only about ways they can stay safe online, but also about developing empathy for others and using their tech skills responsibly.

Though Yager hates to think about it, her experience in cybersecurity tells her there will probably be those online who try to cash in on flood victims’ misery.

“I could see a lot of fraud,” Yager said. “These are people who have critical needs right now. I can’t imagine all they’ve lost. And your insurance company can’t get to you for how many months? Or you don’t have flood insurance.”

Yager said she could envision a scenario where fraudsters offer victims false promises of help in exchange for valuable personal information. The perpetrators could then turn around and sell that information to anyone willing to buy it.

What concerns Yager more, however, are the victims who don’t have access to their computers or smartphones having to use public wifi to sort out their personal affairs. Unsecured networks are terrible places to traffic sensitive personal data, such as insurance or banking info.

“I can’t imagine there won’t be people out there capturing that data,” Yager said.

Flood victims should try to the greatest extent possible to conduct their online business solely through secured networks. Those in position to help might think about allowing someone affected by the flood supervised access to their wifi to pay bills or deal with insurance issues. For those able to donate, Facebook has instituted a crisis response button for online donations.

As floodwaters recede and residents return to see what they can salvage, the true extent of the damage will emerge. The need for good digital citizenship will remain high. Do what you can.

Tyler Walsh’s home. Click here to donate to Walsh and Bailey.

Women in Tech: Noni Williams

Whenever someone would ask Noni Williams what she wanted to do with her interest in math and technology, she would start to answer honestly. She wanted to be the problem solver she saw herself as when she was the little girl at the front of the classroom, scratching out algorithms and bad poetry in her notebooks. But before she could finish answering, the asker would usually interject: “Be a teacher?”

Williams noticed nobody ever interrupted her male peers with that question. It was like they were trying to send her the message she would only ever be able to teach the world’s future innovators, not be an innovator herself.

“The best it seemed I could hope for was to grow up to be a teacher to inspire some little boy to change the world,” Williams says. “Teaching is not a consolation. It is a calling. And it wasn’t mine.”

Her childhood notebooks were filled with mock-ups for inventions and algorithms for solutions to questions she did not yet have the capacity to communicate—not drawings of blackboards and rows of kids smiling at their desks.

When Passion Intersects with Technology

Now, as the Manager of Solutions and Continuous Improvement at United Way of the Midlands, she spends her days solving tech problems for the organization.

“I’ve been introducing a lot of automation into this job, trying to bring us into the 21st century in terms of using data efficiently,” Williams says. She recently built an app that houses vital demographic and organizational data that colleagues can use to answer the questions they need answered when they meet with funders.

Williams loves being able to use data to solve problems, and to write programs that automate tedious processes. The time saved through automation frees her to focus on more exciting problems.  

Overcoming Small Minds and Smaller Hearts

She didn’t always know she wanted to pursue a tech career. During college, she originally majored in civil engineering. Despite her obvious talent and aptitude for the discipline, the attitudes she encountered there frustrated her.

“Be a woman in the room,” Williams says. “Be a woman in the room and dare to be anything but exactly right. You’re met with glares and sighs for wasting everyone’s time. Have a slightly different thought process in front of the class and you’re told that you’re wrong.”

It was exhausting not being given a chance to grow along with everyone else.

“I got tired of being shot down in front of everyone. So I spoke up less. Which I guess is what the unconscious, or conscious, culture of those classrooms wanted in order to maintain the status quo.”

So she switched her major to Mathematics after two years because she likes numbers and problem-solving.

At the time, however, Williams wasn’t keen to embark on the computer science curriculum required for her math major. “I left my computer science classes until the end of undergrad because I didn’t want to take them,” Williams says. “A year later, I was like, ‘I really like coding.’ It became fun for me.”

Eventually, Williams decided to pursue her master’s degree in math with a concentration in data sciences. Now she is a crucial member of a powerhouse nonprofit, working on the algorithms and dreams she began scribbling into her notebooks years ago. She’s leading the innovation, silencing the interjectors.

It hasn’t been an easy road. But Williams dealt with her challenges by never losing her sense of wonder, by writing poetry to contextualize her frustrations, and by leaning on supportive friends and family, she says. “I kept people around me that knew what I was capable of and would not let me forget it. With a creative outlet and a strong support system, I felt unstoppable. And I still do.”

Tech Is for Everyone

For women considering a career in tech, Williams has good advice.

“Think about what types of problems you like to solve. What challenges you in an exciting way? What feels good? What skills can you grow here? What relationships can you build? Seek these out.”

She also advises women not to feel hemmed in by their past.

“Do not let your past employment determine how much your time is worth. Consider your skills, your experience, your education, your geographical location, and the position or contract work you are applying for. Do your research about what the typical compensation is. Ask for what you consider to be fair.”

Williams also has advice for women who aren’t necessarily thinking about a career in technology, who have perhaps been misled into believing tech was not for them.

“Tech is for everyone,” she says. “I have friends who majored in psychology, English, computer science, math, various types of engineering, horticulture, business agriculture, biology, etc., that work in tech. You may not realize it, but your voice and your perspective could be extremely valuable in the tech world. Tech needs you!”

Women in Tech: Noni Williams

Whenever someone would ask Noni Williams what she wanted to do with her interest in math and technology, she would start to answer honestly. She wanted to be the problem solver she saw herself as when she was the little girl at the front of the classroom, scratching out algorithms and bad poetry in her notebooks. But before she could finish answering, the asker would usually interject: “Be a teacher?”

Williams noticed nobody ever interrupted her male peers with that question. It was like they were trying to send her the message she would only ever be able to teach the world’s future innovators, not be an innovator herself.

“The best it seemed I could hope for was to grow up to be a teacher to inspire some little boy to change the world,” Williams says. “Teaching is not a consolation. It is a calling. And it wasn’t mine.”

Her childhood notebooks were filled with mock-ups for inventions and algorithms for solutions to questions she did not yet have the capacity to communicate—not drawings of blackboards and rows of kids smiling at their desks.

When Passion Intersects with Technology

Now, as the Manager of Solutions and Continuous Improvement at United Way of the Midlands, she spends her days solving tech problems for the organization.

“I’ve been introducing a lot of automation into this job, trying to bring us into the 21st century in terms of using data efficiently,” Williams says. She recently built an app that houses vital demographic and organizational data that colleagues can use to answer the questions they need answered when they meet with funders.

Williams loves being able to use data to solve problems, and to write programs that automate tedious processes. The time saved through automation frees her to focus on more exciting problems.  

Overcoming Small Minds and Smaller Hearts

She didn’t always know she wanted to pursue a tech career. During college, she originally majored in civil engineering. Despite her obvious talent and aptitude for the discipline, the attitudes she encountered there frustrated her.

“Be a woman in the room,” Williams says. “Be a woman in the room and dare to be anything but exactly right. You’re met with glares and sighs for wasting everyone’s time. Have a slightly different thought process in front of the class and you’re told that you’re wrong.”

It was exhausting not being given a chance to grow along with everyone else.

“I got tired of being shot down in front of everyone. So I spoke up less. Which I guess is what the unconscious, or conscious, culture of those classrooms wanted in order to maintain the status quo.”

So she switched her major to Mathematics after two years because she likes numbers and problem-solving.

At the time, however, Williams wasn’t keen to embark on the computer science curriculum required for her math major. “I left my computer science classes until the end of undergrad because I didn’t want to take them,” Williams says. “A year later, I was like, ‘I really like coding.’ It became fun for me.”

Eventually, Williams decided to pursue her master’s degree in math with a concentration in data sciences. Now she is a crucial member of a powerhouse nonprofit, working on the algorithms and dreams she began scribbling into her notebooks years ago. She’s leading the innovation, silencing the interjectors.

It hasn’t been an easy road. But Williams dealt with her challenges by never losing her sense of wonder, by writing poetry to contextualize her frustrations, and by leaning on supportive friends and family, she says. “I kept people around me that knew what I was capable of and would not let me forget it. With a creative outlet and a strong support system, I felt unstoppable. And I still do.”

Tech Is for Everyone

For women considering a career in tech, Williams has good advice.

“Think about what types of problems you like to solve. What challenges you in an exciting way? What feels good? What skills can you grow here? What relationships can you build? Seek these out.”

She also advises women not to feel hemmed in by their past.

“Do not let your past employment determine how much your time is worth. Consider your skills, your experience, your education, your geographical location, and the position or contract work you are applying for. Do your research about what the typical compensation is. Ask for what you consider to be fair.”

Williams also has advice for women who aren’t necessarily thinking about a career in technology, who have perhaps been misled into believing tech was not for them.

“Tech is for everyone,” she says. “I have friends who majored in psychology, English, computer science, math, various types of engineering, horticulture, business agriculture, biology, etc., that work in tech. You may not realize it, but your voice and your perspective could be extremely valuable in the tech world. Tech needs you!”