‘I want to learn to help wounded veterans …’

No. 1-ranked UNO helping ex-Army bomb squad technician reach his goal of giving back.

Posted:
mié, mar 9, 2016

A beautiful lady led Zachary Meade to Omaha.

His bride, Paige Meade.

An Omaha native, Paige was accepted into pharmacy school at Creighton University a few years back. So Zachary, a Florida native, left the Army and a job he loved as a bomb squad technician and moved with her to Omaha.

He enrolled at UNO – another beautiful decision.

“I walked into the office of Military and Veteran Services and instantly, people were friendly,” he said. “They knew exactly what I needed to do. They knew exactly how to help me. And that’s why I chose to come here over other schools.”

He says now he can see why the Military Times has named UNO the No. 1 four-year institution in the nation for veterans  for the second year in a row.

Zachary, a sophomore, is studying electrical engineering and working on his prerequisites for medical school. (UNMC, he says, would be his first choice.) He wants to use his engineering and military and research background to help find better ways to make prosthetic devices.

He wants to help make a better world.

“I want to learn to help wounded veterans,” he says, “specifically those who have gotten amputations, because being in my career field, unfortunately, I’ve seen a lot of people lose arms and legs when they deal with explosives.

“So I’d love to give back to that community and do prosthesis research and help wounded veterans and others.”

Check out this video (WARNING: EXPLOSIONS) to learn more about Zachary’s life and the beautiful goals he and other students have for their futures. They are examples of how the University of Nebraska’s Our Students, Our Future fundraising initiative will help make better futures for us all.

Supporting military and veteran students is one of UNO’s priorities in the two-year, $200 million Our Students, Our Future initiative, which runs through 2017. If you would like to help military students like Zachary at UNO, please contact the University of Nebraska Foundation’s Nicole Massara at 800-432-3216.