Finding a Path Forward: Alum Turns Opportunity Into Momentum

When Mallorie White thinks back to where she was a few years ago, she doesn’t describe a clear plan or a straight line forward.

Instead, she remembers a moment of transition — stepping into single parenthood, navigating a career change and trying to figure out what came next.

“I knew I needed to do something different,” White said. “I needed to go back to school. I needed to make more money for my kids. But I didn’t really have a path.”

What she did have was a willingness to try — even if she wasn’t sure it would work.

That openness led her to Ignite Nebraska, a workforce development nonprofit that partners with Bellevue University to help individuals build careers in high-demand fields like technology.

A starting point — and a challenge

White first heard about Ignite Nebraska from her mom. At the time, she wasn’t convinced it was for her.

“I didn’t think it was something I’d be able to do or be good at,” she said.

But she applied and quickly found herself in a program that was both supportive and demanding.

“They were really serious about what they wanted to do,” White said. “They wanted people to take it seriously and be willing to put in the work.”

That balance is intentional.

“We talk about grit a lot in our program,” said Kellee Mikuls, executive director of Ignite Nebraska. “Mallorie is the epitome of that. She came in ready to work, even when life wasn’t easy.”

For White, the program became more than just training. It gave her direction at a time when she didn’t have it.

“It gave me something to step on,” she said. “I didn’t know what was next before that.”

Learning how to move forward

Ignite’s model combines classroom learning with hands-on experience inside a partner organization — in White’s case, Blue Cross Blue Shield — while also beginning coursework through Bellevue University. The program typically runs about six months, with participants fully immersed throughout that time.

The pace is demanding. Days are split between technical training, real-world projects and building professional skills that many participants are developing for the first time.

“We learned everything from coding and data to how to present, how to write emails, how to communicate in a corporate environment,” White said.

One lesson stood out.

“Learning how to ask for help,” she said. “Knowing when you don’t know something and who to go to — that made a huge difference.”

That mindset shift helped everything else click. As she worked with data, particularly in Structured Query Language (SQL), she began to see it differently.

“It was like telling a story,” White said. “How do you want to pull the data and show it so others can understand it?”

She started practicing on her own at night, building both confidence and momentum.

Building on the foundation

As White neared the end of the Ignite program, continuing her education felt like the natural next step.

She enrolled at Bellevue University, graduating in January with her bachelor’s degree in Computer Information Systems, while continuing to build on the technical and professional foundation she had already started to develop.

For Mikuls, that transition is a key part of the model.

“Ignite can be that launching point,” she said. “But then partners like Bellevue University come in and really help nurture that growth and create long-term opportunity.”

The combination of real-world experience and academic learning gave White something she hadn’t had before — a clearer sense of direction.

Instead of trying to figure out a career path from scratch, she was now moving forward with purpose.

Where she is now

Today, White is a health data analyst at Blue Cross Blue Shield, a role she stepped into after progressing from an apprenticeship through the Ignite program to a full-time position and, most recently, a promotion.

She’s been with the organization for about three years, steadily building both her technical expertise and her confidence along the way.

Looking back, what stands out isn’t a single turning point, but how each step built on the last — from Ignite to Bellevue University to her current role.

“I didn’t think I was going to be able to do it,” White said. “There were a lot of hard things going on. But once I started, I just kept going.”