The Executive - Spring 2015

Innovative Women

VERIZON PARTNERS WITH CULVERHOUSE GROUP TO
CREATE MORE OPPORTUNITIES FOR STUDENTS

BY BRITTANY DOWNEY

Verizon has partnered with Culverhouse’s Women in Technology in an effort to help make several of their initiatives a reality, a product of a winning presentation given by WIT officers Kendall Roden and Danielle Toy at the Verizon Shark Tank event. WIT is a student-run organization based in management information systems that strives to encourage and empower women to achieve excellence in the information technology field.

Roden and Toy traveled to the
Verizon Shark Tank event after an
invitation by the company to compete
alongside several engineering and
technical organizations. Their winning
presentation netted a $650 contribution
from Verizon. The event consisted of
a two-minute presentation to a five-
member panel that asked the following:
“Who are you? What are you doing? What
will you do with these funds?”
“Danielle, me and two more of our
members, Sarah Williams and Julie
O’Brien, worked together to come up
with ideas that would really improve
our organization,” Roden says. “We’ll
be using this money to implement an
‘Innovating Women’ book study as well
as a coffee and coding program for
students to attend. At the beginning of
the project, we sat down and thought
about where we wanted the group to
go in the future and we focused on the
technology aspect of what we do.”
In addition to the coffee and code
program and "Innovating Women" book
study, WIT will work to create “Girls
Who Code,” a program that travels to
high schools to help women who are
interested in technology learn more
about future careers. Verizon and WIT’s
officers will work together to help
create more programs like this for their
group and other groups in the area.

“I think it was really cool to go in with Danielle by my side and present this in only two minutes,” Roden says. “It was a little bit intimidating because we only had so much time, and it was a very professional environment. I think the biggest takeaway is going to be improved skills for all of our students, and that’s a facet I think everyone wants to see.”