Alanna Muhammad, a 2018 Waterloo East High School graduate, is the recipient of Wartburg College’s Harry and Polly Slife Minority Scholarship.

The track and field athlete will major in biology and hopes to become a physician assistant. She is the daughter of William and Shana Muhammad.

“Her countless volunteer hours with the Northeast Iowa Food Bank, American Red Cross, IMPACTT Foundation, Black Hawk Gymnastics, I-JAG, University of Northern Iowa Talent Search and Waterloo Community School District made her a great candidate for this scholarship,” said Natalie Smith, Wartburg’s associate director of admissions-transfer recruitment and operations. “We look forward to having her leadership, commitment to learning and energy on campus this fall.”

The Slifes were Cedar Falls residents who died Jan. 2, 1994, in a car accident east of Decorah. The couple was honored in 1988 as Eastern Iowa’s “Outstanding Philanthropists.” Harry Slife had been president of Rath Packing Co. and Black Hawk Broadcasting (KWWL), a state senator, served on the state Board of Regents (1973-79), and was a Wartburg regent (1980 until his death). Their memory lives on through the Harry and Polly Slife Minority Scholarship Endowment Fund held at Wartburg, which annually awards a full-tuition scholarship to one African-American student from the Waterloo Community School District. Awards are renewable up to four years.