Incoming freshmen to receive the first Women in Technology of Tennessee (WiTT) College Scholarship

WiTT awards first annual $5,000 scholarship to Nashville high school graduating senior, Nyakuoth Jock, entering freshman at Lipscomb University

Cate Zenzen | 08/14/2020

This story was adapted for use from the press release by WiTT on August 6, 2020. 

On August 6, Nyakuoth “Nya” Jock, RePublic High School graduating senior and Nashville native, was announced winner of the first Women in Technology of Tennessee (WiTT) College Scholarship. Jock will start her college career at Lipscomb University this fall. 

Newly announced in spring 2020 with a sponsorship from UDig, the $5,000 scholarship was established to encourage more women to consider careers in technology and to bring more gender diversity to the industry. The WiTT College Scholarship is designated for a graduating female high school senior in the Nashville metro area who will enroll in college with the intent to pursue a career in a technology-related field.

“WiTT is proud to support the educational and career advancement of more bright young women in technology with this new scholarship, and Nya’s commitment to academic excellence and community service make her a very deserving recipient for this award,” said Meg Chamblee, WiTT President.

“Nya’s essay response also stood out for her maturity and vision, that technology, data, and science can meld together to improve people’s lives, and her career aspirations to fight infectious diseases are inspiring. WiTT is pleased to be able to support the next phase of Nya’s education as an incoming freshman this fall at Lipscomb University,” said Chamblee.

Applicants submitted transcripts, a resume, a letter of recommendation, and an essay on why they are interested in technology, what problems they plan to solve using technology, and how the scholarship would help them achieve these goals.

Jock was recommended by Mehreen Butt, her AP Computer Science teacher at RePublic High School and Academic Dean of Instruction, who explained that even though she did not initially care for coding, Jock eventually excelled in it, to include proficiency with back-end and Java coding, due to her work ethic and passion for learning.

“Nya wants to pursue a STEM major and future career because she wants to help fix the pipeline of women, especially women of color, in science. This scholarship provides one of our brightest students with much-deserved support as she pursues her college education, where I’m confident Nya will continue to flourish as both an academic leader and an important contributor to her community,” said Butt. “WiTT has a worthy mission to advance more women in tech, and I am honored they recognized one of our students as the first recipient of this important, new scholarship.”

The WiTT College Scholarship is made possible through a sponsorship by UDig, a technology consulting firm with expertise in software development, data platforms and analytics, which expanded to Nashville earlier this year from Richmond, Virginia.

Women in Technology of Tennessee (WiTT) is a volunteer organization and community which equips women to shape the future of technology. Founded in 1999 as a small group of female leaders in the Nashville area, the organization has grown to include hundreds of members who seek to promote women in technology in four key areas: through scholarships, education, community outreach and networking. To date, WiTT has awarded over $200,000 in scholarship opportunities to help high school and college girls, as well as women returning to school, succeed in technology-related fields.