Hard-working, easy-going and driven are just a few words that can be used to describe Aric Lefebure, diesel agriculture major at Kirkwood Community College. "My junior year of high school I took an auto class and found that it wasn't for me but I still wanted to stick with something related to farming," said Lefebure who said he has had a passion to farm since he started walking.
While attending the University of Iowa to obtain a degree in biochemical engineering, Ryan Harbaugh discovered what his true passion really was. It was cooking. Harbaugh said he supported himself while attending college by working as a restaurant cook.
Keeping her love for art in the forefront has always been important to Anne Snitker. After a bit of trial and error in finding her career, she is now on track to becoming an art teacher and sharing her passion with students. Snitker, 25, graduated from West Delaware High School in her hometown of Manchester, Iowa, in 2002.
Mike Ireland is a pre-engineering major at Kirkwood Community College. Ireland is finishing his pre-engineering degree this year, which will be his second completion of a degree program at Kirkwood. In his first years he earned his associate of applied science degree in business.
Follow your passion. In a nutshell, these three words describe Geoff Gimse, a Kirkwood Community College student who is full of passion and ambition. Gimse, a Liberal Arts major, was born in Detroit, Mich. but moved to Wisconsin where he attended Boyceville High School, in Boyceville.
Most people aren't 100 percent sure what career they'd like to pursue but Madeline Greene, a dental technology major and a member of the Honor Society at Kirkwood Community College, knew exactly what she wanted to do when she graduated from high school. "I've always wanted to do something in the dentistry field.
With five children under the age of 18, a full-time job at Alliant Energy, attending Kirkwood Community College as well as being selected as an outstanding student, pre-engineering major Adam Clymer is being humble when he describes himself as hardworking.
Being in the spotlight and taking center state is something that Angel Farris, Liberal Arts major, said she was born to do. Having struggled with what to do in life she started with theatre then changed from one major to the next. Today Angel is back on stage and doing what she said she loves.
Ali Carlson, a communications media/PR major from Columbus Junction, knows first-hand how unpredictable life can be. It was Oct. 3, 2005 when her family received the phone call that her father would be receiving a new heart that very day. "I was a junior in high school and had to grow up quickly," said Carlson.
Although Jessica Hesseltine's scholastic journey from Iowa City High to Kirkwood Community College's Iowa City campus didn't require much travel, she said she's come a long way. Hesseltine, a sophomore in the business administration assistant program at Kirkwood, was born and raised in Iowa City and hopes to stay close in the future.
T he orange and red flames of a burning building don't phase Alexandra Walter, fire science management major, nor does the fact that she is one of the few women in the entry-level firefighter program at Kirkwood Community College. After graduating from Charles City High School, Walter studied radiology at the University of Iowa for two years.
I often wondered why people who are normally mild-mannered can get behind the wheel of a car and in a matter of minutes be turned into vicious, road-raging maniacs? The sweetest person can suddenly become mean and spiteful and spew cuss words a mother would cringe at.
The 2009 installment of Kirkwood Community College's Jazz Fest was a hot one. Sets from the Kirkwood Jazz Ensemble and the CR Jazz Big Band featured guest artist, trombonist Wycliffe Gordon. He currently serves on the faculty of the Jazz Studies program at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro but his career has taken him around the world.