How one scholarship helped turn ambition into impact
When Shae TeGrotenhuis was in high school, she knew what she wanted to do. She just wasn’t sure how she would afford it.
“When I was a student in high school, I was very concerned about paying for college,” she said.
Shae worked throughout high school, saving what she could, but the cost of higher education and the graduate degree required for her chosen field felt daunting. That changed when she received the Pat Adams Scholarship through the Pat Adams Scholarship Fund, a fund held with the Floyd County Community Foundation, a local foundation of the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa.
Established through Pat Adams’ will and shaped by her passion for education and the Charles City community, the scholarship continues to support local students as they pursue their goals, providing students $60,000 over four years.
“When I received the scholarship, it really helped ease my mind so that I could pursue the degree I wanted,” Shae said.
The support did more than cover costs. It created a path forward. To become a speech pathologist, Shae needed both an undergraduate degree and a master’s degree, a commitment that can feel out of reach for many students.
“The scholarship paved the way for me to pursue my career,” she said.
Without that support, the path may have looked very different. Instead, Shae was able to continue her education without overwhelming debt, allowing her to focus on learning and building her future.
“It gave me a lot of ease in my heart. I could focus on my education rather than financially supporting myself,” she said.
Today, Shae is a licensed speech pathologist and serves as a clinical supervisor, helping guide students as they build their own skills and confidence.
“I have the opportunity to help guide them as they become clinical professionals,” she said.
The impact of the scholarship extends beyond Shae’s career. It helped create stability for her family and shaped the future she is building.
“It opened up doors for me,” she said. “It helped set up my family and my son’s life for a good trajectory.”
Through support from donors and local community foundations, students like Shae are building careers, strengthening families, and creating lasting impact across the region.
“I am thankful to Pat Adams for her vision. It set my family and me up for success in our lives and in my career,” she said.
Where partnership meets purpose and local children get the start they deserve
Across the Cedar Valley, access to child care has long shaped more than daily routines. It influences whether parents can work, whether employers can hire, and whether children have a steady place to begin learning and growing.
For years, community leaders and early childhood partners worked to understand the gap and what it would take to address it.
“The key was the people involved,” said Mary Janssen, Child Care Resource and Referral of Northeast Iowa Regional Director. “There were times when it felt uncertain, but people kept showing up. We believed in it, and we kept going.”
Through those efforts, one thing became clear. A traditional model would not be enough to sustain child care at the scale the community needed.
“We knew this couldn’t operate on its own,” Mary said. “We had to build a model that brought partners into the work.”
That foundation made way for a partnership with UnityPoint Health – Allen Hospital, designed to meet the needs of both working families and the regional workforce. Through the partnership, UnityPoint employees have priority access to child care, helping ensure their children are in a safe, stable environment while they are at work.
“When you don’t have reliable child care, it affects everything, from recruiting to retaining nurses and staff,” said Zach French, Vice President of Finance at UnityPoint Health – Allen Hospital.
Cedar Valley Kids Child Care Center was the solution, and the new center in Waterloo now provides licensed, high-quality care for children from infancy through early childhood, offering families consistency during the years that matter most.
From the earliest stages, the Community Foundation of Northeast Iowa helped move the work forward by convening partners, supporting planning, and investing at key moments.
“The first major grant was from the Community Foundation and was a turning point,” Mary said. “It told us this was real, that we were moving forward.”
Today, children are learning in a stable, supportive environment, and families have the reliability they need to work and plan ahead.
“This is where it begins,” Mary said. “Quality early care gives children the foundation they need to grow, learn, and succeed.”
For Zach, seeing the center open brings that effort into focus.
“To see it open and serving families, it shows what’s possible when organizations commit to a shared solution,” he said.
What took years of partnership and persistence is now a place families can rely on. It is also a reminder of the good that happens when people come together to fulfill a shared vision for their community.