Jordan Lipinski

Profile by Claudia Ortiz-Valencia

“You are your biggest critic,” said Jordan Lipinksi. Towards the end of her high school career, she started to question what she cared about, and why she was taking everything so seriously.

After losing a close friend, she realized that she didn’t know how much time she would have left. What she used to think was important, wasn’t as important as she thought. Instead, she started going after what made her happy.

“Losing her made me thing, ‘Why am I holding myself back?’”

Since being at Grand View, Jordan has gotten better at going outside her comfort zone. She joined the soccer team at GV, even though she doesn’t have much experience. She is still learning that any progress is still progress, and wants to focus on the future.

Rebecca Gilseth

Profile by Gloria Hackett

When Rebecca Gilseth speaks, it is like you are hearing the words of a book flow out of her mouth. As I listened to her talk about her passions, I could just tell that she was born to write. Majoring in English and minoring in Creative Writing at Grand View University, Gilseth is aiming to apply her writing skills to a good career in the future.

Gilseth has been writing stories ever since she was around seven or eight years old. “I still remember the little blue spiral notebook and the stories I wrote about getting a pet cat, and my fictionalized parents were totally OK with that, even though my real parents were not. I think that’s what made writing interesting to me, the fact that I could create any reality I wanted.” Gilseth said.

If Gilseth had to give one piece of advice to her younger self, or anyone out there who has the same interests as her, she would say “Don’t worry about being good enough.”

“So often I think people wonder if they are skilled enough at a craft to claim that they are a ‘writer,’ or ‘painter,’ or anything else really. But what matters isn’t how good someone is at a skill, it’s the passion they have for it and their ability to persevere.” Gilseth said.

Noah Huff

Profile by Ungwa Itabelo

When we are young we are full of dreams and passion, that could be from movies or a book someone read to you while you were a child that motivated you into wanting to become someone in the future. The dreams we had as kids are not the dreams we have now. Few people end up doing what they wanted when they were little. And Noah Huff had many different dreams.

When he was a kid, Huff wanted to work in the food industry. But he eventually decided he wanted to do something different, even though cooking is still a passion of his. He then took an interest in band, playing percussion through high school and into college at the University of Northern Iowa. Like many college students, the pressure of school took a toll on his mental health, and he decided to take a break from school

After encouragement from his parents, Huff began attending Des Moines Area Community College. After he graduated, he transferred to Grand View University to study communications. Huff has always had an interest in all kinds of sports.He recently live-streamed a football game and he enjoyed it.

Even though he isn’t where he wanted to be when he was a child, what he is doing now is much greater than he could have ever imagined. 

Landon Briggs

Profile by Noah Crawford

Landon Briggs is a 19-year old freshman at Grand View University. Born in Iowa, Briggs was raised like most other American kids: to be a well-rounded and ambitious individual with broader interests beyond academics. Briggs is pursuing a degree in business while playing soccer at GV. He feels blessed to be able to combine study and sport during his time there.

Although Briggs plays soccer at GV, his first love for sports was playing American football in highschool. Like all athletes, challenges were thrown Briggs’ way. In his senior year, he struggled to balance his studies with his commitment to the sport. Unfortunately, he suffered a severe injury late in the year that ended his football career. He thought it was the end of his dream, but considered his goals and what he had already accomplished in his life.

Despite everything life has thrown at him, Briggs has not only strived but thrived in his own fields of interest.

“I wanted to play football, but sometimes things don’t pan out,” Briggs said. “I am still happy to be playing soccer and determined to not give up.”

Keyshaun Bolen

Profile by Crey Abbas

Keyshaun Bolen lacked a lot of stability in his life from the beginning, but he always tried to look to the future and persevere. Even as a child, he knew that there were only two ways out of his rough neighborhood. As he got older, Bolen saw many of his friends getting in trouble with the law. It was then that he decided that he would choose a different path.

Bolen was always curious, fun and outgoing; it was at a young age that he learned of his love for basketball. It was a top priority in his life right away. When he didn’t make his middle school team, he tried out for two club teams and made them both. He has been playing ever since.

Now a junior at GV, Bolen has chosen to pursue a career in sports. He is interested in double-majoring in Kinesiology so he can stay around sports even if he can no longer play basketball in the future.

Despite the circumstances, Bolen has come a long way and doesn’t plan on stopping anytime soon.

Isiah Jones

Profile by Shenita Lawson

New York native Isiah Jones moved to Nevada when he was a freshman in high school. After a fast-paced childhood filled with basketball and boxing, he was happy to embark on a new adventure. His move to Nevada is how he got into taking pictures and videos.  He believes that taking pictures and videos of different places that you have never seen before is cool because you might not ever see it again.

 “Some people will just stay in one place their whole life and die there without experiencing what it’s like to live somewhere else,” Jones said.

After he served his years in the military, he decided to move to Iowa and attend Grand View University and major in communication and media practice. After Isiah graduates from college, he wants to become a film director and he already has his own photography business.

Gloria Hackett

Profile by Rebecca Gilseth

Organized, funny, energetic. These three words describe Gloria Hackett, a video-editor and YouTuber. These two passions are entirely self-taught. Hackett, born and raised in Des Moines, is a freshman at Grand View University majoring in communications.

“I think at first, it’s pretty difficult, because it looks very intimidating,” Hackett said. “It was actually pretty easy to get to know how to do things once I just did them.”

In 6^th grade, Hackett was homeschooled. She remembers asking her parents for it as a result of anxieties involved in attending traditional schooling. But Hackett’s choice to homeschool benefited her greatly. She took the time to learn more about herself and what she could accomplish if she was willing to understand how her comfort zones could be pushed.

Regardless of her growing list of accomplishments, Hackett knows the future is still unknown. She has considered a career in videography, advertisement, or marketing, but hasn’t settled on one for certain. She is also seeking to improve her skills in writing. Even so, Hackett knows that the first step to doing anything is simply getting started.

“Just go and do things. Don’t worry.”

Crey Abbas

Profile by Keyshaun Bolen

Fearless, and creative, that’s the one and only Crey himself. Growing up playing a lot of

video games and watching different creators make YouTube videos inspired him. It caught his eye so quickly that now he makes his video games and has started his own YouTube channel.

It’s been eight years since he’s been doing YouTube and starting his own YouTube

channel and creating video games

Their videos consistently have a professional appearance. They painstakingly prepare for them and shoot them, frequently utilizing unique objects and many cameras. After that, they carefully edit them to make them seem natural.

“It was just a hobby, something to keep me happy and creative in my spare time,” Abbas said.  “I always try to incorporate Youtube into what I do. But there have undoubtedly been a few occasions when I’ve failed to turn in my projects on time because I was too engrossed in filming videos. I’m compelled to!”