#KnowJustice: Legacies – Gallery Talk

Come watch the full length legacy stories of Chenue Her, Ann Mincks, See (Surasee) Rodari, Norbe Birosel Boettcher and Colin Witt. These stories will be archived in our Legacy Collection Project. We’ll have popcorn, candies and light refreshments.

– Chenue Her is a Twin Cities native who joined the WOI Local 5 team in 2021 as an anchor on ‘Good Morning Iowa’. He is the first and only Hmong anchorman in the nation. He is the son of blue-collar Hmong refugees and has always been drawn to telling stories. Chenue is an Emmy Award-winning reporter and Emmy-nominated anchor. His work has also received awards from the Iowa Broadcast News Association.

– Ann Mincks, the 2024 Iowa Teacher of the Year, is currently an English Language Learner (ELL) teacher at Hoover High School in Des Moines Public Schools, located in Des Moines, Iowa. She teaches various English classes for 9-12 grade students ranging from emerging to advanced language levels. During her sixteen-years as an educator, Mincks has had various roles including professional learning community (PLC) leader, model classroom teacher, teacher mentor, curriculum developer, instructional coach and adjunct professor. A lover of language and education, Mincks considers her most important job to support students with the language skills they need to navigate the forces that affect their lives.

– See Rodari moved from Thailand to the United States as a teenager in 1972. After graduating with a degree in accounting, he was hired as a reconciler for Bankers Trust. He stayed with the company and became Vice President of the Euclid Branch. For over 45 years, See has been a community leader supporting efforts and imitations to help Asian Americans living in Iowa. He has received the Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame Lifetime/Achievement Award, Person of the Year award by Iowa Asian Alliance, Citizen of the Year Award by East Des Moines Chamber, Distinguished Business Leadership Award by Greater Des Moines Leadership Institute and more.

– Norbe Birosel Boettcher was born in the Philippines and graduated with a Bachelor’s of Science in Chemistry in 1953 from The Philippine Women’s University. In 1955 she came to the United States to study at the University of Iowa to study as a Graduate Student in Chemistry. She then worked as a chemist, researcher and instructor at Coe College. Along with being a chemist she is a writer with her poems and short stories with her most recent book, “Other Faces, Other Places,” a collection of short stories, poems, and essays being published with the Coe College Writing Center.

– Colin was dedicated to improving the state of child welfare and ensuring the rights of families. Restoring Hope: The Honorable Colin J. Witt Memorial Foundation is about helping youth in need understand their worth and value to our community and the world. The foundation is created in honor of Colin Witt, who as a juvenile judge made it his life’s work to help kids see their possibilities and how one mistake, or many, doesn’t have to define their future.

The Legacy Collection is about archiving and elevating the many voices that make up our state so we can expand and reshape dominant narratives that perpetuate harm and oppression. We want to support our educators in using these stories as they talk about our history and our culture with the next generation. These are stories that are shaped by our community and belong to our community. By knowing our history, we can learn from our past, celebrate our heritage, and work together for a brighter future for all Iowans