I want to introduce you to Janine Baeza and myself, Juanita Zavala, Co-Chairs for the Inclusion, Access, and Success committee. Janine is the Associate Director of Freshman Recruitment & Access at the University of Northern Iowa and I am a College and Career Transition Coach (CCTC) at Indian Hills Community College. Our committee works to identify how to better serve and support underrepresented high school students with their post-secondary plans.

We also orchestrate the annual L.E.A.P (Leading & Excelling, Academically & Professionally) conference held in the fall. We recently held this year’s conference at Mount Mercy University and enjoyed seeing so many engaged students! We hold this conference at a different institution each year. In addition, we oversee the Freddy Miranda Access Scholarship, which is awarded to a student whose current high school and chosen college are members of Iowa ACAC.

We are fortunate to work with a hands-on committee which consists of Jenelle Martin (Buena Vista University), Gabriel Hernandez Acosta (Mt. Mercy University), Leslie Garcia and Giselle Herrera (University of Northern Iowa), Allison Peach (Waterloo Career Center), Kisha Smith (Waterloo West HS), and our newest members Nicholas De Leon (Western Iowa Tech Community College) and Julietta Coronel (Buena Vista University).

Please watch for more information coming soon about the Freddy Miranda Access Scholarship for 2024!

IAS Committee members participating at the recent L.E.A.P. Conference. From left to right: Julietta Coronel, Buena Vista University, Jenelle Martin Buena Vista University, Gabriel Hernandez Acosta, Mount Mercy University, Juanita Zavala, Indian Hills Community College, and Janine Baeza, University of Northern Iowa.