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.”
“I THINK THE BIGGEST
TAKEAWAY IS GOING TO BE
IMPROVED SKILLS FOR ALL
OF OUR STUDENTS, AND
—Kendell Roden