I Am We Are 20th Anniversary Celebration

Neo Moroka '05

Vanita Vactor

Chris Bacon ('07) was an IAWA member from 2004-2007. After graduating from Gustavus with majors in Theatre and Religion, Chris worked in Youth Development for the Peace Corps in Morocco, taught English in South Korea, and was a Teach for America Corps Member in Boston, Massachusetts. He's currently working on a PhD in Education at Boston College, where he specializes in ESL, literacy, and critical pedagogy.

Evan Hilsabeck '09

Michael J. Sielaff '08

Virgil Jones earned his undergraduate degree in communications from the University of Wisconsin- La Crosse and his M.A. in student affairs leadership from the University of St. Thomas. He joined the Gustavus Adolphus Admissions team in 2004 as Assistant Director and Coordinator of Multicultural Recruitment, then transitioned into the role of Director of Multicultural Programs and Director of Diversity Development in 2006.

In that role, Jones directed the Diversity Center, co-advised the Social Justice Theatre Troupe "I AM WE ARE", co-advised the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Lecture and Celebration and Building Bridges Conference, a highly successful student-led diversity conference that draws close to a thousand students, staff and faculty annually. In 2011, Jones was appointed as Assistant Dean of Students at Gustavus, and also received the Multicultural Alumni Award from his alma mater, the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse. That honor recognizes multicultural alumni for outstanding contributions to their profession and society. In late 2013, Jones left Gustavus to pursue his K-12 Principal’s license. Most recently in 2015, Jones was awarded a Specialist Degree for K-12 Administration. He currently serves as the 9th Grade Coordinator/Dean of Students at Rosemount High School. 

Rhea LeGrande is an Instructional Coach at East High School in Kansas City, Missouri where she works with administration, teachers and students to ensure quality education for every student in her building. She is a Teach for America Alum, holds Master's Degrees in Philosophy and Education and is currently a Leading Educators National Fellow. Rhea graduated Magna Cum Laude with Majors in Philosophy and GWS with a Minor in Political Science. While at Gustavus Rhea was actively involved in I AM WE ARE, Zeta Chi Phi Multicultural Sorority Inc., and major events put on by the Diversity Center. Rhea continues her pursuit for social justice by working towards ensuring quality education for every child, everywhere. She currently resides on the Kansas side of the border with her furry sidekick, Riot, her incredible daughter, Supriya, and her better half, Stefano. 

Elizabeth Coco is the Interim VISTA Manager at the Jay & Rose Phillips Family Foundation. In this role, she manages the Phillips Sectoral Employment Initiative VISTA Program, which seeks to ensure that everyone has the opportunity to compete for jobs, especially those in growing and well-paid industries like healthcare, construction and transportation.

Previously, Coco worked at the Minnesota Council of Nonprofits as VISTA Project Coordinator. During her two year tenure at MCN, both as a VISTA member and later as fulltime staff, Coco founded and coordinated MCN's VISTA Program, which seeks to build the capacity of community based nonprofit organizations, specifically led by and serving communities of color in the Twin Cities.

Before her role at MCN, Coco completed a year with AmeriCorps serving as a Minnesota Reading Corps Literacy tutor at Bethune Community School in Minneapolis. She is an alumnus of Gustavus Adolphus College with degrees in religion and gender, women and sexuality studies and has a deep passion and dedication for social justice and equity.

When not working, Coco volunteers her time with the Headwaters Foundation for Justice which supports organizations doing systems change work for a more equitable Minnesota.

At Gustavus, she was Co-President of the Womyn's Awareness Center, Co-Chair of Building Bridges, member of I Am We Are to name a few.

And other alumni from our workshops and panels! 

Amber has not stepped on a stage since college. Even though her passion was/is theatre, life and its unexpected turns found her a grad school drop out from Lewis & Clark. However she found herself a new passion.Amber is a wife of 1 (Jim), mother of 3 (JD, Anna, Esmee), and owns a pet supply store in West Linn, Oregon.

The friendships, but more importantly the character growth, is what she learned from, and tries to live life by, after, "I Am We Are".

While at Gustavus, Shantea Wilson was active in student government from being president of black student organization, now PASO, to being dorm chair for Wahlstrom, to being the face of women in business. She was a founding member of I Am We Are and Building Bridges. Her fight to understand why her skin color was such an issue still in the 90's pushed her into industries like admission recruitment, government diversity for economic development, and healthcare administration. Theater challenges her to communicate in multiple ways, in hopes that all ears would hear her. Theater is her ever moving, ever changing vehicle. It drives, it pushes her natural limits, and challenges her storyline with authenticity, creativity, and truth.

Since she joined the Gustavus Department of Theatre and Dance in 1997, Amy has been the Theatre Advisor for I Am We Are, partnering with Directors of Diversity including Denise Iverson-Payne and Virgil Jones. For the department, Amy teaches Social Justice Theatre, Directing, Performance Theory and other special topics, and directs a variety of shows for the main-stage season. In 2007, while chairing the department, Amy initiated a revision of the program’s mission, foregrounding the importance of performances as, “a vital means of working for social justice and personal transformation.” Theatre majors are now required to take at least one social justice theatre class, and department projects in both theatre and dance often focus on specific social issues.

Amy has presented conference papers and workshops at the Association of Theatre for Higher Education, the American Society for Theatre Research, and the Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference. At PTO, students from I Am We Are have joined her as presenters and workshop leaders over the past 15 years. Amy’s original plays have been produced in New Haven, New York, Los Angeles, and at the Minneapolis Fringe Festival.

Amy has a BA from Wesleyan University, an MFA from Northwestern University and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her dissertation on Race and Gender in Chicago Improv-Comedy was published as a book, Whose Improv Is It, Anyway? (U Mississippi P, 2001) Thanks to a Presidential Facutty-Student research grant from Gustavus in 2015, the research she has done with Sam Keillor ’17, other students, and I Am We Are alumni, will provide the basis of her next book.

Sam was a recipient of the Presidential Faculty/Student Resaerch Grant for 2015, enabling him to spend the summer collecting oral histories from I Am We Are alumni, and collaborating with Dr. Amy Seham to gather the material and insights presented in this anniversary celebration. Following this event, Sam will develop his Social Justice Theatre research as part of his focus in Education, present his work at the national Pedagogy and Theatre of the Oppressed Conference, and continue to collaborate with peers and alumni to keep I Am We Are strong.