Colin Hughes

I helped create the #DiversityIsOurStrength project, working as Wheat Paste (co-Lead), and on the Design team.

My Family History

My mom’s family came from Czechoslovakia three generations ago to farm and eventually start some of the first businesses in Czech Village (Cedar Rapids). My great grandfather Jerry Prochaska worked at Wilson's meat packing plant in Cedar Rapids while my great grandmother, Mary Prochaska was a homemaker and baker, she eventually started her own bakery business. Later on my grandmother, Shriely Kinzey grew up in downtown Czech village and worked lots of office jobs to support her family. My mother, Pam Hughes was the first to go to college. She had me when she was in her thirties.

Living in Iowa

Being Iowan to me is having a reliable community and a place to call home. We are resourceful and practical. I feel like most Iowans have a solid understanding of the importance of the environment since we are a farming community. We’re educated and insightful.

My Dreams

I have a knack for punchy language and snappy headlines. I am also competent with color, fonts, visual communication and web design. So, I’m pursuing a career in social media that also incorporates elements of web development and design.

A Teacher Who Changed My Life

Mrs. Carrie Buelow, Level One Reading teacher, Jackson Elementary Growing up dyslexic, I had a teacher in my level one class, Mrs. Buelow, who always helped me. When other teachers gave up on me or told me I was stupid because I couldn’t read like the other kids, she never gave up on me. So, thank you for always being understanding of my learning disability: you taught me to believe in myself past what others think.

My Favorite Thing

Essential Oils

Self care is a very important way to treat yourself. This represents me because these oils make me feel calm in this crazy world. Nothing makes me happier than defusing my essential oils at night and playing video games. It’s my escape.

What #DIVERSITYISOURSTRENGTH means to me

It means coming together and understanding everyone's strength past the things that make us different. There’s a lot of different amazing people out there and it sucks that there are systematic roadblocks that prevent people from reaching their full potential.

Alex Knospe Amanda Jensen Annebel Trumm Ben VanHorn Brett Foreman Colin Hughes Connor Gibson Dakota Davis Elexia San Nicolas Hannah Stater Kalei Owens Leslie Owusu Madison Watland Preston Larson Reagan Saul Sami Enos

#DiversityIsOurStrength is a public web and mural project developed by Interactive Digital Studies (IDS) majors at the University of Northern Iowa. IDS is an interdisciplinary program focusing on creating digital experiences. We are using what we’ve learned in our culminating IDS Practicum course to create a highly visible public project that both addresses the challenges and embraces the future of educational diversity in the Cedar Valley.

One inspiration for this project came from the 24/7 Wall Street article that identified Waterloo and Cedar Falls as the #1 worst metro area for Black Americans in 2018. Having this distinction continues to be disturbing for all of us. Our second inspiration comes from 1619 Project, a New York Times initiative led by Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist and Waterloo native Nikole Hannah-Jones. The project reframes the country’s history by placing the consequences of slavery and the contributions of black Americans at the very center of our national narrative.

Thank you to literacy educator Dr. Shuaib Meacham, Associate Professor at the University of Iowa, who has guided this project.

Also thank you to Anthony Woodley and Mack Vos for helping in the final stages of the project. Due to COVID-19, the project became delayed and was unable to be completed by the end of the spring semester, and without their help, the project could not have been finished.

PROJECT DOCUMENTATION

Contact Us

Email: diversitystrength@uni.edu