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Scholar Spotlight: Jinni Dingel


School: Iowa State University || Major: Early Childhood Education

Jin­ni is major­ing in Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion. If she could give any advice to some­one who is apply­ing for the Bright Schol­ar­ship, it would be to dig deep and be hon­est about who you are, where you are, and what you want to become. Scroll to read our full inter­view with Jin­ni and dis­cov­er her favorite study spot!


What is the most inter­est­ing thing you have done or are plan­ning to do to explore or gain expe­ri­ence in your career field?

The best part of my pro­gram has been tak­ing part in each of the practicum expe­ri­ences, both on and off cam­pus, where I get to work with chil­dren of many ages and devel­op­men­tal stages. Being greet­ed by 15 ram­bunc­tious, smil­ing preschool­ers each morn­ing at the lab school is def­i­nite­ly a high­light of my day. 

What advice would you give to some­one who is con­sid­er­ing apply­ing for the Bright Scholarship/​Lois Dale Scholarship?

My advice for any­one apply­ing for this schol­ar­ship would be to dig deep and be hon­est about who you are, where you are, and what you want to become. My hon­esty of myself, I believe, is what helped me gain this schol­ar­ship because it allowed me to be vul­ner­a­ble enough to express what I need­ed to be suc­cess­ful in the future. 

What do you like most about your school?

What I love about Iowa State, espe­cial­ly the School of Edu­ca­tion, is the cul­ture. Of course the cam­pus is beau­ti­ful, but the peo­ple here are so much more. The pro­fes­sors gen­uine­ly care about us and our suc­cess, both in our careers and in our per­son­al lives. Know­ing I have a sup­port team both at col­lege and at my work­place with ISU Din­ing makes walk­ing around cam­pus so refreshing. 

What is your ide­al study environment?

For some rea­son, I study best when I’m sit­ting in a booth. I’ve found a sec­ond home in the booths of Perkins at 10 p.m. End­less drink refills and stacks of pan­cakes have got­ten me through many long nights of study­ing and writ­ing les­son plans. 

Who is your biggest inspi­ra­tion and why?

My high school Eng­lish teacher, who I now con­sid­er my adopt­ed mom, has been my biggest inspi­ra­tion since I met her a few years ago. She solid­i­fied my desire to pur­sue edu­ca­tion as a career and gave me the extra love and sup­port I need­ed to apply for this schol­ar­ship. I wouldn’t be where I am today with­out her.