My Family History

We don’t know much about our family history because most members of our family have unfortunately long since passed away. What we do know is that on my mom’s side they were mostly farmers, and came here for agriculture. On my dad's side they were masons and carpenters. Somewhere along the line they came from Germany and settled in northeast Iowa.

My Dreams

I am good at organization and time management. I’m also good at working with graphic technology tools. I plan to get a job in packaging with my graphic tech major and maybe do some freelance coding with my Interactive Digital Studies major.

A Teacher Who Changed My Life

MYTHOLOGY Teacher, MARSHALLTOWN HIGH SCHOOL,

He taught me how to create my own time management when there wasn’t anyone holding me accountable, and to create my own goals.

My Favorite Thing

When I think of Iowa I think of corn. I remember sitting in the living room shucking corn with my parents. We had the TV on, and we would just hum along as we shucked about 30 bags of corn during the summer. We saved them so they could be eaten by the cob, and as regular sweet corn until next year.

What #DIVERSITYISOURSTRENGTH means to me

Diversity is our strength means that we all come from different places and walks of life. To me that is what makes us unique and unified. I have learned a lot about teamwork and being a part of a team with this project. This project is all about being unified and working together, and that is something that has really benefited my learning.

#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.