Phillips receives Harry and Polly Slife scholarship from Wartburg
September 4, 2023
Alysiah Phillips
Phillips will major in business administration and accounting. She is the daughter of Tawanda Hackett and Wayne Phillips.
“Alysiah is motivated, ambitious and personable. What I admire most about her is her ability to balance school, cheerleading, student council, being a member of the Waterloo Youth City Council, two jobs, church life and her personal life without letting one area suffer more than another,” Allison Peach, an East High counselor, wrote in her recommendation letter.
Phillips hopes to someday own her own real estate agency and to pass along her financial knowledge to help others in her family become more secure in their investing strategies.
“My ultimate goal is to be able to provide affordable housing for single parents with children in need,” she said.
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), was 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 Polly and Harry Slife Family Fund. The college annually partners with the organization to award a full-tuition scholarship to one African-American student from the Waterloo Community School District. Awards are renewable up to four years.
“The Slife Scholarship gives me the opportunity as a first-generation college student to gain as much knowledge as I can to take back home to my family with little to no cost,” Phillips said. “This scholarship also gives me the chance to be guided by a mentor and a chance to grow with students just like me. With the Slife Scholarship, I feel more comfortable and excited to start this new journey in my life. Wartburg never fails to make me feel supported and cared about.”