Outstanding

For years they have worked hard while reading, writing, asking questions and challenging answers so that they can apply what they learn to something greater. College has been but one step for these people who, with degree in hand this month, can tackle the world as the Corridor's outstanding college graduates of spring 2010.

‘I have an ability to be a bridge for these individuals'

University of Iowa senior Abby Milloy knew exactly what her interests and talents were, but couldn't find just the right academic program to fit.

So the West Des Moines native designed her own major through the UI's individualized plan of study and will graduate with a bachelor's degree in interdepartmental studies - Latino health advocacy. Milloy, 21, also will earn a bachelor's degree in Spanish. It combines her Spanish fluency with her desire to work in health care.

The Latino population in the United States is among the groups that faces the most roadblocks to adequate health care, Milloy said. “I have the ability to be a bridge for these individuals,” she said.

She spent one spring semester studying abroad in Merida, Mexico, working as educational director at Brazos Abiertos (Open Arms), helping teach local youths about HIV and AIDS prevention. She hopes to return to that city in the coming years to do more work.

A 2006 graduate of Valley High School in West Des Moines, Milloy said her ultimate goal is to attend graduate school in public health at Johns Hopkins University and work with the Pan American Health Organization.

‘I need to talk'

When asked where she sees herself in 10 years, Coe College graduate Malyssa Oblander doesn't have one definitive answer. She has dozens and they're changing every day.

It might be easier to ask her where she doesn't see herself in 10 years.

“I don't want to be in a job where I'm doing the same thing every day,” Oblander, 21, said. “Or a job where I'm not talking to people … I'm an extrovert and I need to talk.”

She does have one hope: to be in a bigger city. Oblander grew up in Spillville, a no-stop–light town of 400 known for its historic clock museum and as the place where famed Czech composer Antonin Dvorak spent a summer to write in 1893.

Four years after getting to Coe, Oblander is graduating with a degree in both psychology and in Spanish, as well as certification in secondary education. Involved in multiple clubs and volunteer organizations throughout the past four years, Oblander managed a 3.98 GPA. between working with third graders at Johnson Elementary and helping fellow students at the campus' writing center.

Come September, Oblander will begin student teaching Spanish at Linn-Mar. She said she loves working with students, loves engaging kids in both language and culture, but it's hard for her to say if that's where she'll end up.

“I'll be teaching, whether in a classroom or not,” Oblander said. “But I plan on being a student too, always learning.”

Her love of learning could translate into graduate school, law school or AmeriCorps. All that matters for Oblander is that she's helping someone.

‘They say they look up to me'

Yesenia “Yesi” Mendoza does not look like a nerd. But appearances are deceiving.

Behind the guise of a Mount Mercy soccer player, an active student leader and an outgoing dramatist, lies the heart of an unabashed policy wonk.

“Public policy is something I've been thinking relentlessly about over the past two years,” Mendoza said. “Watching the economy go down, then the reforms go through, it makes me want to know more.”

Over the course of the past year, Mendoza has steeped herself in the details that define politics.

Double-majoring in political science and international studies, Mendoza has been writing two senior theses that both take on immigration reform.

Mendoza, 22, graduated from high school in Austin, Minn., but was born in west-central Mexico. Eventually, Mendoza and her family settled in Austin. The baby of the family, Mendoza will be the first one to graduate with a college degree.

“My family, they say they look up to me,” Mendoza said. “Like I'm an overachiever … but really, my siblings are the overachievers, they just didn't go to college.”

Mendoza spent the past semester working for Rep. Dave Loebsack, D-Iowa.

“I took a lot of angry calls, mostly angry calls” Mendoza said, highlighting the protracted fight over health care reform.

As someone who aspires to seek out and understand the minutia of public policy, she said it got a little frustrating.

“People just hear things on Fox News and call say I am opposed to this, and they give me the same rationale they heard on TV.”

After graduation, Mendoza plans on going back home, where she wants to develop and run a program that will get the growing Latino student body in Austin more involved and more integrated in school.

‘People want to be treated like people'

Brittany Atchison knows firsthand what it's like to be homeless. She has seen unimaginable poverty, volunteered at African orphanages and worked for social justice,

At just 22 years-old, the senior at Cornell College in Mount Vernon has used her education to help open up lines of communication and aid with conflict resolution.

“If people can't talk, there is no way for policies to change,” she said.

Atchison's passion for helping others was sparked before she stepped foot on campus. After graduating from Randolph High School near her hometown of Northfield, Minn., she spent the summer in Honduras volunteering and teaching English.

“I've tried to help knowing that I am coming from a place of privilege, but continue to fight for people who don't have same opportunities,” she said.

Atchison has helped investigate food distribution in Bolivia with the United Nations Food Programme. She also interned for Sen. Tom Harkin in Washington, spent time in camps for displaced people in Kenya and has been involved with around a dozen student organizations at Cornell.

She spent two days living on the streets panhandling, eating at food kitchens and speaking with the homeless about their lives in Washington as part of the National Coalition for the Homeless.

“People don't ever treat you like a human being, they just walk by like you're invisible,” she said, “I've learned people want to be treated as people no matter

what their circumstance.”

Atchison became inspired to get her degrees in ethic studies and politics, with a minor in music because of her desire to help others. She plans on spending this summer in Rwanda to study human rights and peace building. Eventually she plans to pursue graduate studies in public policy.

“The more I learn, the more I learn how much I have to learn,” she said.