When Kylan\nNelson was a little kid, he watched his brother play an Xbox game featuring UFC\n(Ultimate Fighting Championship) fighters and was fascinated by it and decided that\u2019s\nwhat he wanted to do \u2014 not play video games but learn martial arts. His mom\nsigned him up with a local gym and until starting his college career Nelson\nstudied several martial arts, including competing in Brazilian Jujitsu. He also\nstarted boxing at age 15. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
But\nNelson\u2019s awareness of the dangers of Ultimate Fighting led him to seek a\ncollege education rather than try to make a career in mixed martial arts. And\nthe discipline and maturity he learned from his martial arts practice helped\nhim stay focused on his studies at Dunwoody and become an Academic Excellence\naward winner for the Computer Technology department.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cA lot of\nmen that are 18 are not fully mature. I feel like at the age of 17 or 18, you\ncan\u2019t be immature with that kind of environment,\u201d he said, speaking of spending\ntime at a dojo or a gym like The Academy Elk River where he trained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nelson also\nknew that whatever his career path, he wanted something hands-on. He\u2019d\nexperienced that mode of teaching while learning martial arts and discovered\nthat he learned more easily if a teacher demonstrated a technique or principle\nand then he could practice it himself. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
His mom\nsuggested he check out Dunwoody because she knew her son liked computers and\nAndy, one of the IT staff at her workplace, is an alumnus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nelson\ntoured campus and sat in a couple of classes and thought they were \u201creally cool.\u201d\nHe also called up Andy, and he said it was a good idea. And if that wasn\u2019t\nenough validation, a career fair was taking place the day Nelson toured campus\nso he and his mom went around and talked to the companies, and \u201cthey said Dunwoody\nwas the way to go.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And\nComputer Networking Systems seemed like a great fit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cBefore\nDunwoody I didn’t know how to build a computer, but I wanted to get that\nhands-on knowledge,\u201d Nelson said. \u201cI have a bunch of friends who are computer\ngamers. I was interested in the hardware. But then [in the computer networking\nclasses] you learn about operating systems. You learn about every little thing\n\u2014 you even learn about binary code.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
And just as\nhe suspected, Dunwoody\u2019s hands-on, project-based approach really worked for\nhim. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI couldn’t\nsit in front of a book,\u201d he said. \u201cWhen you have a teacher doing the same thing\nphysically and you\u2019re in front of a computer, it’s amazing because you’re\nseeing exactly what you need to do. And then it’s up to you to practice it, of\ncourse.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cKylan has\na strong work ethic and is curious about technology,\u201d said Julie McFadden,\nAssociate Professor of Computer Networking. \u201cHe is always willing to help\nothers and takes on leadership of team situations in an unassuming manner.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nelson\ncredits the example of his mom, who works as a loan officer, for his drive to\nget his class work done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cShe’s a\nhard worker. She’s on the phone every day. Works 12 hours a day, every day,\u201d he\nsaid. \u201cShe keeps me going. I want to repay her in some way. That\u2019s why I try to\nwork hard as well.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He was also\nstruck by a faculty member who mentioned that when you work in IT, you\u2019ll be\nassigned an objective by your boss and you\u2019re going to need to plan out how to\nget it done. To help him have that mindset, Nelson bought a calendar and used\nit to plan out when he is going to do his class reading, studying, and\nassignments. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cThis is\ngoing to be where my future career starts. Every day graduation is getting\ncloser,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nelson is applying\nfor jobs at the moment. He knows it\u2019s a challenging time right now, but remains\npositive. He also figures if he needs to, he can always sign up with an IT\nrecruiter or a temp agency. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also has\na project he started while at Dunwoody that he wants to finish: he\u2019s working on\na smart mirror that will display things like the local weather and holidays. He\nbuilt a picture frame and has set up the Raspberry Pi that will feed data to\nthe mirror. Now he just needs the two-way glass for the mirror\/display. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
And, of\ncourse, once he does land a job and has money for parts, Nelson plans to build and\ncustomize his own computer now that he has the skills to. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cI couldn’t sit in front of a book. When you have a teacher doing the same thing physically and you\u2019re in front of a computer, it’s amazing because you’re seeing exactly what you need to do. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":5590,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[363,178],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5583","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-academic-excellence-award","category-student-news"],"yoast_head":"\n