Growing up in a tight-knit neighborhood community in Waterloo, Wilfred “Mickye” Johnson learned the importance of helping your neighbor. Johnson has 12 siblings, and his parents often struggled to make ends meet. But his community’s generosity helped his family thrive and instilled values in Johnson that guide him even today.
“Everybody uses the phrase, ‘It takes a village…’ and we truly had a village that raised all of us,” Johnson recalled. “We would share everything we had. ... We knew we were loved by our family and by the total community.”
Her story almost sounds like a made-for-TV movie — a young girl from small-town Iowa is hand-picked by an instructor from the famed Juilliard School of Music to pursue a career in New York City under her guidance. It might sound too good to be true, but that’s actually what happened to UNI alumna Sheri Greenawald ‘68.
David Schmitz ‘06 is proof that art can change lives. The Charles City native said his time at UNI was transformative - from creating his own unique artwork to his first exposure promoting the arts while a UNI Gallery of Art student worker. Those experiences sparked a passion for promoting art and a career that led from the Dubuque Museum of Art to the Iowa Arts Council, where he will start as administrator late next month promoting the arts across Iowa. Here he shares his thoughts on the importance of art, how to make it more accessible and how UNI shaped his career.
It’s a classic Iowa story — UNI graduate Cole was raised in small-town central Iowa, where he watched his dad and grandfather work his family’s farm together. At age five, he was sitting on his father’s lap while he drove tractors across the corn fields. Within three years, he started driving the tractors himself. It was a given that he’d grow up to take over the farm’s operations someday.
After running away from an abusive home environment in high school and ending up in a youth homeless shelter, this student found solace in music at UNI.
Our graduating seniors found a place where they belonged at the University of Northern Iowa. Their tireless academic preparation, strong relationships with faculty and other students, and wide variety of out-of-class experiences have helped create a strong foundation for their future. These are but a few of our promising fall 2019 graduates:
