Amy Dunn arrived at Iowa Central Community College because of rodeo, but she'll leave in May on track to become a Physician's Assistant.
A sophomore from Oregon, Wis., about 10 minutes outside of Madison, Dunn is like a lot of other Iowa Central students who arrived in Fort Dodge because somebody else had said good things about the college.
``In my case it was Amy Holmes, who is from my area and is a friend of my family,'' Dunn said. Holmes was a rodeo performer at Iowa Central three years ago, and she recommended the school and program to her younger family friend. A couple of college visits later, Amy Dunn, the 2007 Wisconsin State High School Rodeo Queen was on her way to Fort Dodge.
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Amy Dunn works in the admissions office at Iowa Central. It's just one of the many things which keeps her busy.
``My plans are to transfer to the University of Wisconsin next fall,'' Dunn said. She will graduate from Iowa Central in May with her Associate of Arts Degree.
Though rodeo is what brought her to Iowa Central, many other aspects of the college have come into play for Dunn. She had a fall semester course load of 19 credit hours and is actively involved in the Student Ambassador program, Student Senate and works part time in the admissions department. Free time Amy? ``That's what weekends are for,'' she says.
Her rodeo event was goat tying, which is only a women's event in college rodeo. ``I had a show horse when I was younger, but I traded it off for a rodeo horse,'' Dunn said. When she leaves Iowa Central for the Wisconsin campus she will leave college rodeo behind. ``I plan to continue to rodeo as a hobby, but I will focus on school. ''
Her rodeo career will continue this spring as Iowa Central has another full calendar of competitions in March and April, but there are other experiences that have been meaningful. ``I helped with Share What You Wear, accepting donations of clothes and toys from people in the community and I volunteered at the Marian Home one day and we had a birthday party for one of the residents which was really fun,'' she said.
With her diverse interests and high level of involvement Amy Dunn has made the most of her college experience. ``I have yet to run into anybody at Iowa Central, instructors, staff, anybody, who doesn't want to see a student succeed. Everybody here has been fabulous to me.''
As part of her college ambassador duties, she tours other prospective students around the Iowa Central campus. It would be hard to find a student more perfectly suited for the job.