Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | summer 2009

SUMMER 2009

Cover Story:
The chimps of Fongoli

Feature Story:
>>Ten years after

Photo Feature:
Alumni Days 2009

Departments:
Getting Started
Letters
Around Campus
Association News
Giving
Sports

Christina Hixson (front row center) is surrounded by the 2008-2009 class of Hixson Opportunity Award students in September 2008 in front of the Hixson-Lied Student Success Center. Hixson travels to Ames each fall to meet the new class of award recipients.

TEN YEARS AFTER

The first Hixson Opportunity Award students have now been out of school for 10 years, but their gratitude that someone believed in them has not diminished.

Bruce Yang looks up toward the ceiling of Starbucks, his eyes squinting a bit as he tries to remember that newspaper article.

But, sorry, he can’t.

How can he not remember!? Here’s a guy who as a child dodged bullets when he and his family fled war-ravaged Laos (his mom and a brother were killed during the effort), eventually immigrated to America, and years later had his story told in a college graduation feature in a national newspaper called USA Today. In the “Life” section, no less. That article was absolutely
loaded with symbolism.

“I remember the photograph, though, but I’m a picture person,” says Yang, an art director with the Meredith Corporation, the Des Moines-based media conglomerate.

Of course: the photo that accompanied the story. It symbolized a lot too, didn’t it? There’s Yang in the cap and gown he wore when he graduated from Iowa State
in 1999. And standing right next to him is Christina Hixson. The woman who changed his life.

Not just the money
“I’ve been associated with a lot of fundraising
activities and a lot of scholarship programs, but what’s distinctive about the Hixson Opportunity Awards are the personal ties Christina has with students,” says former ISU President Martin Jischke. “She takes a personal interest in them, really connects with them. She’s a mentor for these kids. It’s unusual for that to happen with a donor.”

Hixson has changed a lot of lives, beginning with the 100 students who in 1995 received the first Hixson
Opportunity Awards. Yang was one of those 100. He was also one of the 30 students who were in the first Hixson graduating class in spring 1999.

Those first Hixson graduates have gone on with their lives over the last decade. They’ve pursued careers or advanced degrees. They’ve married and had kids. College memories have faded as college memories are apt to do. But just as that scholarship bonded those original 100 students, these Iowa State alums remain
bonded today by an enduring sense of gratitude toward their benefactor.

And it isn’t just the money. Hixson challenged these students to use the abilities that helped them land the scholarship in the first place and make something of
themselves. She instilled in them a sense of responsibility. She provided an inspiring role model: herself.

She expected a lot from these students and they knew it.

They still know it.

A unique scholarship program
The creation of the Hixson Opportunity Awards is the stuff of fund-raising legend at Iowa State. In 1994 Jischke and then vice president for external affairs Murray Blackwelder went to Las Vegas to ask the
Lied Foundation Trust for millions of dollars to fund scholarships for National Merit Scholars. Hixson, the Foundation’s executrix, listened to Jischke’s pitch and
turned him down.

No offense, of course, but she wasn’t particularly interested in helping National Merit Scholars. She cared more about those kids out there who had the demonstrated potential to succeed at college but
because of factors beyond their control, they just couldn’t afford it. They faced financial hardships brought on by such challenges as divorce, loss of a parent, serious illness, or downturns in the economy.

Hixson, herself, was once one of those kids. She grew up on the proverbial wrong side of the tracks. One of several children being raised by a single mother, Hixson
didn’t have the opportunity to go to college. After graduating high school in Clarinda, Iowa, she left home and, with money borrowed from an uncle, went to
secretarial school. Her drive and hard work ultimately led to her powerful position with the Lied Foundation Trust.

Jischke and Blackwelder got back on the plane, feeling more optimism than rejection. They sketched out another approach on a long-gone napkin. The idea
was this: Award 100 $2,500 scholarships annually to just the kind of students Hixson described. Why 100? One for each county in Iowa. (Yes, there are 99 counties in Iowa, but Polk would get two because
of its size and population.) For good measure, it would be called the Hixson Opportunity Awards Program.

Hixson liked this idea – liked it enough to provide a $6 million gift to get the program rolling. Pleased with how things progressed, she followed with additional gifts, enabling the program to offer renewable four-year scholarships. Hixson has helped build the program’s endowment to about $20 million, and she gave the
lead gift for the Hixson-Lied Student Success Center, which houses the Hixson Opportunity Awards as well as several other student support programs.

All around the Student Success Center you’ll find artwork inscribed with a quote from Hixson that explains her philosophy: “For many of the great, great
successes of the world, the background they came from was their great challenge. I’m trying to find those people. Those who may not have the highest grade point or a perfect family background, but who can
be successful. These are the ones who will lend the helping hands in the future.”

If Hixson herself were reading this she might be getting impatient right about now. The story is focusing a lot on the money and her generosity. She never wants the story to be about her. The story is the students. It’s always the students who really matter most.

But here’s the catch. When you talk to the first members of the Hixson graduating class, they inevitably talk about Christina Hixson.

‘I believe in you’
“My goal was to be in the first class of graduating Hixson students,” says Kari Detrick Hernandez. “I had to take 20 credits that last semester, but I did it. It
really meant a lot to us that she was there [at graduation]. We knew she was proud of us.”

Hernandez earned a degree in animal science from Iowa State and briefly worked on a master’s in Christian education before taking an animal health technician position at Schering-Plough in Omaha, Neb. Hernandez rarely misses a chance to see Hixson during
stopovers she makes while on her way to an Ames visit.

“She’s a neat lady,” says Hernandez.“Fun to talk to and learn from. Even my husband was like ‘wow’ because she’s so informed about everything. She’s such an important part of my life and such an
important part of why I was able to go to college. I probably wouldn’t have made it through as well as I did without the support of the Hixson program. It was
someone saying, ‘I believe in you.’”

Last September Hernandez planned to see Hixson at the airport, but this time she was nervous. She and her husband, Luis, were going to introduce Hixson to their first child, Luis Jr. They were also going to tell Christina, who always encouraged students to pursue their careers, that Hernandez had opted not to return to work and instead open a daycare in her home so she could be with her new son.

“Christina enjoyed meeting the baby and she asked a lot of questions about him and my staying home with him,” Hernandez says. “Of course I always want
her to be proud of me and what I’m doing, so I was nervous too that she might seem disappointed, but I didn’t sense that at all. I only wish I had gotten a picture of them together!”

Just as the Hixson program took care of her, Hernandez says running a daycare and “making sure the kids I watch do well” continue the lessons of the Hixson program. She and her husband also are already working to instill their infant son with a love of learning.

“We were reading to him before he was born,” says Hernandez. “We want to make sure he’s able to go to college when the time comes. We’ve started a college fund for him. We hope he never needs a Hixson program.”

Spokesperson for the group
“We got the letter and did the whole hurrah thing. I knew I was definitely going to Ames now,” says Michael Read, remembering the day he learned he would be a Hixson student. “I still feel a lot of
gratitude. I was able to pay off my college loans in good time, and that allowed me to buy a house. It helped with cash flow for the business. It was a great head start.”

A total extrovert with no fear about expressing an opinion, Read (’99 agricultural systems technology) quickly became the highest profile student in that
first Hixson class. He took a part-time job in the president’s office, but only after his grandmother talked him into it and offered to buy the de rigueur tie and khakis. He spoke at spring graduation in 1999,
but doesn’t remember a word he said.

He does remember, however, attending an appropriations meeting with Jischke and other Hixson students who served as student ambassadors for the university. When a legislator dissed the university’s
Facilities Planning and Management Department, where Read worked at the time, the ever-vocal Hixson student took it upon himself to speak up and defend it.
Jischke remembers that moment, too.

“He more or less gave testimony that the department was well run,” says Jischke. “He sort of shut the conversation off. He was quite credible.”

Already an incredibly busy Hixson student, Read also had a fledging electrical business back home in Marengo, Iowa.

“I was working 20 hours for Facilities, taking 19 class hours, and every Friday night I’d go home to work all weekend,” says Read.

He came to campus with a pretty solid work ethic, but Hixson’s example contributed to it.

“Pay attention to what she’s done. That’s all you need,” says Read. “She doesn’t have to tell you anything. She worked and strived and was loyal and
look what it’s given her.”

Now, 10 years after graduating, Read is where he always planned to be. He’s running Read Electric, which does electric, plumbing, and geothermal work and, despite the rough patches in the economy, “we’ve never had a problem staying busy.”

But he’s still got that Hixson-induced sense of obligation.

His company funds a small annual scholarship for a local high school student who intends to pursue a career in engineering or the trades. The recipient
is selected during his or her senior year in high school but doesn’t get the money until the sophomore year of college. Read expects the students to prove themselves during that first year, including earning
at least a 2.0 grade point average.

Once Read awarded a scholarship to a local kid who had a rough freshman year. But Read knew the young man had the potential to succeed and gave him the
scholarship anyway. Sound familiar?

A lasting impact
“I didn’t expect to even be considered for such an award. Winning it was overwhelming. It allowed me to go straight to a four-year college – straight to ISU,”
says Nate Gebel. “The Hixson award gave me the confidence I needed. Someone believed in me. Fourteen years later I’m still thankful that I filled out that application.”

Perhaps no member of the first Hixson graduating class represents the lasting impact of the program better than Gebel (’99 ag education). Now a high school ag
education instructor and FFA adviser, Gebel remembers when going to college was a gigantic “maybe.” He was a high school student in Charles City, and one
of three kids being raised by divorced parents. Money was tight. Gebel admits he didn’t have a lot of confidence in himself back then, and he was expecting to attend a community college or join the military after high school. But a guidance counselor urged him to apply for this new Iowa State scholarship program – the Hixson Opportunity Awards.

“Hixson helped my whole family go to college,” Gebel says.

Gebel’s success at ISU – he went on to earn a master’s in professional agriculture– served as a role model for his two sisters. The financial boost he received also made it easier for his dad to send the girls to college. Both are now Iowa State students.

It doesn’t stop there, though. Gebel has become something of an ambassador for the Hixson program and for Iowa State.

“Because Hixson helped me, I’m able to help other kids. I’ve recommended my students for the Hixson program and have had two accepted,” says Gebel. “I’ve had
15 former students attend Iowa State as ag majors.”

“I’m very proud to be part of the Hixson program and it’s a great honor to have been part of the first graduating class,” said Gebel. “I hope that I go out and prove her right every day. I hope Christina Hixson
and Iowa State can look at Nate Gebel and know they were right to have bet on me.”

Opening doors
“When I think about the Hixson program I think about a door opening,” says Yang (’99 graphic design). “You feel like you’ve got a path and nothing can stop you.”

The Hixson program continues to open doors. More than 800 Hixson students have earned degrees from Iowa State. More than 550 Iowa high school students
apply for Hixson scholarships each year.

The program’s ongoing success can be attributed, in part, to accomplishments of the first class, as well as the lessons learned from it.

Debra Sanborn, who has been director of the program since the beginning, notes that the graduation and retention rates for that first class of Hixson students were the lowest of any year, though still higher than the university average.

“We were just getting off the ground, and what we learned from that first group of students helped all the students who came after them make a successful transition,” says Sanborn.

Sanborn helped set up the Hixson Seminar, a first-year experience course to help students settle into college. A peer leadership program was launched to connect
experienced Hixson students with new Hixsons. Both programs contributed to improved graduation and retention rates.

This fall another significant enhancement is coming. Since the beginning, the program has provided $2,500 annually renewable scholarships. Tuition, of course, is much higher than it was in 1995. So, beginning next year, Hixson students will begin to receive scholarships worth half the cost of tuition. So for example, in-state tuition and fees for 2009-10 are $6,651, which means a Hixson student will receive a $3,325 scholarship.

“The Hixson Opportunity Awards Program is special because it helps so many deserving students gain access to a college education, and that’s what being
a land-grant university is all about,” says Iowa State President Gregory Geoffroy. “The Hixson program has provided this help to hundreds and hundreds of Iowa young people over the past 14 years, and it will continue to do so into the future thanks to the wonderful generosity of Christina Hixson.”

By the end of 2009, Iowa State will have awarded scholarships to 1,500 Hixson students. In another decade, the number of Hixson graduates will number in the thousands. And given the success of the program – success that shone so brightly at that graduation ceremony 10 years ago – who’s to say that amongst those grateful Iowa State alums there isn’t another
Christina Hixson in the making?

***

Life so far: Bruce Yang
Within a month of graduation from Iowa State, Bruce Yang got married, bought a house, and got a job at the Meredith Corporation. Today, he and his wife, Sandy, live in a little brick house on Des Moines’ south
side with two daughters, Isabella, 3, and Katherine, 1.
“I’m living the dream I wanted,” he says. “To be an immigrant child, to come and see the dream of what America has to offer… I am very fortunate. I feel blessed. Everything just fell together.”

Life so far: Kari Detrick Hernandez
After graduating from Iowa State, Kari Detrick used her animal science degree in jobs that involved working with pigs and chickens. Now, she laughs, she uses her degree only if you count the fact that she has three dogs. Detrick is married now – to Luis Hernandez – and in addition to two Dachshunds and a Great Dane, they have an 18-month old son, Luis Jr. She’s put her animal science career on hold for the time being to operate a daycare in her Omaha home. “The parents [whose children I watch] appreciate the fact that I have a degree,” she said.

Life so far: Michael Read
Michael Read still owns the successful electrical
company he started the summer after high school. Read Electric, headquartered in Victor, Iowa,
originally specialized in electrical wiring projects
but has since expanded to geothermal systems
installation, plumbing, gas furnace installation, and even “trimming a few trees.” Read said he became interested in electricity when he was a teenager and saw how much money electricians charged per hour.
“I’ve always been motivated by money,” he said. “When you grow up on a farm in the ’80s, you don’t have any money.” Read and his girlfriend, Ellary, had their first child in early May – Garrett David Read.

Life so far: Nate Gebel
Nate Gebel has been an agriculture education teacher at Waukon High School for 10 years. He says he tries to be a good role model for his students. “The highlight of my career is when students reach goals and push themselves to a level that they have never achieved
before,” he says. Gebel and his wife, Tami, have a daughter, Alaina, 4. He says he hopes to teach “forever” and is grateful for his experience at Iowa State. “There’s no way to explain to someone how much Iowa State changed my life for the better.”

Read more about the first class of
Hixson Opportunity Award students:

The first class, December 1995, The Iowa Stater
www.iastate.edu/IaStater/1995/95stories/dec/
hixonstudent.html

The first class graduates, May 1999, The Iowa Stater
www.iastate.edu/IaStater/1999/0599/degrees.html

The Hixson Opportunity Award
The Hixson Opportunity Award is a scholarship
program for Iowa students who possess the potential to be successful at college but who don’t have the resources because of financial and/or personal challenges. The goal of the program is to annually offer a Hixson scholarship to one student from each of Iowa’s 99 counties.

That number, and the counties represented, can vary slightly from year to year based on the applications received. Selection is based on the student’s county, eligibility, and potential as demonstrated through an application, letter of recommendation, and financial need analysis. (Go to www.iastate.edu/~hixsonawards to learn more and to see a map with a county-by-county listing of all Hixson scholarship recipients.)

Since 1995, when the program began, each Hixson student has received a renewable, four-year $2,500 scholarship. Students must maintain a 2.0 cumulative grade point average for renewal. Beginning next year the scholarship will worth half of the current tuition rate. While the best part of Hixson history is the
individual stories of the students, the program’s
statistics also illustrate its success. Here are a few:

• Number of Hixson scholarships awarded since 1995:
1,500
• Average number of Hixson applications per year: 560
• Number of Hixson students on campus per year:
360-380
• Number of Hixson students to earn degrees from
ISU as of May 2009: 818
• Percentage of alumni contributing gifts to the
ISU Foundation
– Hixson alumni: 22.9%
– ISU young alumni (1999-2008 graduates): 6.3%
• One-year retention rate
– Hixson average: 93%
– ISU average: 84%
• Six-year graduation rate
– Hixson average: 77%
– ISU average: 67%
• Percentage of Hixson alumni still living in Iowa: 82%

About the Writer | Steve Sullivan helped publicize the launch of the Hixson Opportunity Awards while a member of Iowa State University's University Relations staff. He got to know many of the students featured in this story when they were freshmen.