Student Impact Grant Recipients


Student Impact Grants help Hawkeyes experience, learn, and discover important lessons outside the classroom. Past recipients show you cannot always anticipate when a unique idea is going to arise—or when it will inspire action or creation. Support from the Iowa Impact Fund helps in the pursuit of new and exciting ventures. Read the stories of two Student Impact Grant recipients.

For a More Accepting Community

An image from Nachte Raho, a celebration partially funded by an Iowa Student Impact Grant.

Ridhi Jani

In an effort to celebrate and share Indian culture with the University of Iowa community, the Indian Student Alliance (ISA) hosts a series of charitable, cultural, educational, and social events each year. "Spreading diversity and cultural awareness is extremely important to us," says Ridhi Jani, president of the Indian Student Alliance.

The group’s yearly showcase event, Nachte Raho, is one of the largest Bollywood fusion dance competitions in the Midwest. Eight of the best university dance teams from around the nation come to Iowa and perform. The Student Impact Grant helped pay for a top-notch venue, Hancher Auditorium, and secure judges for the competition.

For a Better Quality of Life

An image of Sandra Castillo, a recipient of an Iowa Student Impact Grant.

Sandra Castillo

Tackling real-life problems and gaining hands-on experiences are important for future engineers, including Sandra Castillo. Through her work with the University of Iowa chapter of Continental Crossing—which helps communities in developing countries construct footbridges— Castillo spent five weeks in Nicaragua repairing two suspended bridges.

Thanks to the Student Impact Grant, Castillo was able to pay for lodging, meals, medical and health expenses, and equipment for the trip. "Your support made my experience accessible and affordable," says Castillo. "Your generosity is helping change the world and making a difference in the lives of so many students."

Learn how to apply for the Student Impact Grants.

If you are interested in helping provide students with more opportunities like these, please support the Iowa Impact Fund.

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Looking back at the African-American Cultural Center?s roots as it turns 50. PHOTOS: Afro-American Cultural Center, Organizations and Clubs Vertical File (RG 01.0015.004), University Archives, the University of Iowa Libraries Students gather in front of the Center, 303 Melrose Ave., in this undated photo likely taken between 1976 and 1980. Editor's note: In Old Gold, University archivist David McCartney looks back at the UI's history and tradition through materials housed in University Archives, Department of Special Collections, University of Iowa Libraries. For black students who attend a predominantly white university, the isolation of feeling alone in a crowd can be overwhelming. While black fraternities and sororities helped to address this concern as early as the 1920s, demands for a UI community center accommodating all black students rose by the 1960s. Such a center at last became reality in 1968. AACC logo designed by Essex Hubbard (79BGS) In the spring of that tumultuous year, the university?s Committee on Human Rights recommended establishment of an Afro-American Cultural Center. During Homecoming weekend, Oct. 11-12, 1968, the AAC opened its doors, a house at the corner of North Capitol and Market streets that had been purchased by the university. In 1976, the AACC moved to its present-day location at 303 Melrose Ave. The climate at Iowa for black students was not always hospitable and, indeed, was often challenging. Minutes from the May 8, 1967, meeting of the Committee on Human Rights revealed reports of discontent: ?[Black] students and staff members still feel discriminated against in their attempts to find housing, but they are not inclined to go through all of the trouble of working through the complicated human relations procedures to bring charges. They choose the line of least resistance. ... Students still complain that some professors on the campus are discriminating. Again, they foresee only difficulty for themselves in pressing charges.? (Records of the Committee on Human Rights, RG 05.0003.040, Box 1, folder ?Minutes and Agendas, 1963-1971?) A 1978 poster advertising a children?s workshop. One year later, facing growing demands to improve the campus climate, the committee approved creation of the center, intended to serve as a study, social, and activity center for black students. Philip G. Hubbard, dean of academic affairs who later became the first African American vice president at a Big Ten university, endorsed the initiative. Since its inception, the AACC has hosted events and programs not otherwise offered specifically to black students or to the larger campus community. In the University Archives? AACC folder in its Organizations and Clubs Vertical File (RG 01.0015.004), a 1978 flyer advertising a children?s Saturday workshop provides a glimpse into the center?s long history of service and activity. A half-century is a remarkable milestone, and the center?one of the first of its kind among U.S. colleges and universities?paved the way for other centers to open in the years to follow at the UI: the Latino-Native American Cultural Center, the Asian Pacific American Cultural Center, and the LGBTQ Resource Center. Each center brings its own brand of service to the community; it all started during that Homecoming weekend 50 years ago. Learn more about the?African-American Cultural Center?and how you can?support its programming?with a donation. ? AACC logo designed by Essex Hubbard (79BGS) ? A 1978 poster advertising a children?s workshop.

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