The 2022 AIM Technology Awards, presented by Cox Business, will once again honor the game-changers and visionaries of the Silicon Valley Prairie with an awards ceremony and dinner at Founders One |. Nine, located at 1915 Jackson Street. Thursday, November, in downtown Omaha. 10:05:30
Awards will be awarded to winners in the following categories: Tech Leader, Tech Educator, Tech High School Student, Tech College Student, Enterprise Business, Tech Startup, and Tech Innovator of the Year.
The event will be hosted by AIM’s Director of Business and Community Development and former Super Bowl-winning NFL defensive back Tony Veland. The keynote will be given by Estefany Puc Nieto, a freshman at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln who started her thriving tech career thanks to AIM’s Code Academy classes at Omaha South High School.
Admission is free and open to the public, with donations encouraged. Tickets can be picked up through Eventbrite.
Proceeds from the event will help support the AIM Institute, a nonprofit organization that strengthens and diversifies local technology communities through education, career development, and outreach. Donations are tax-deductible and will offset the cost of serving at-risk and underserved populations who may not have the opportunity to experience what AIM and its partners believe are the far-reaching benefits of technology education.
Speaker Spotlight
Estefany Puc Nieto grew up in a family without much technical exposure. The daughter of parents who immigrated to the U.S. from Mexico, Puc Nieto said she was naturally drawn to technology because she was part of a generation that has been largely online since birth. Through the connections she made in the school’s DECA program, Puc Nieto entered the AIM Code Academy at Omaha South High School, where she gained experience building websites using HTML, CSS, and Javascript.
The experience changed her life.
Before Code Academy, Puc Nieto was resistant to the idea of a tech career.
“I was like, ‘The Robot Club? No, that’s for boys,'” she said.
Puc Nieto, now a student at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln majoring in computer engineering, hopes to help dispel the outdated gender stereotypes that initially kept her away from her chosen career path.
“My priority is to continue learning new projects while developing my leadership skills,” she said. “Because for me, it’s not just about my journey, it’s about being able to mentor — hopefully within the next year — other girls of color so they can be more open to engineering.”
For more information on the event or to make a donation, visit www.aimtechawards.org.