Designer, dancer, and dreamer, Sammy Dyrud (15th Cohort) is making First Wave history as she spearheads design development in the collaboration between the Office of Multicultural Arts Initiatives (OMAI) and Wisconsin Design Team (WDT) for …
First Wave Hip-Hop and Urban Arts Scholarship Program
First Wave is a full-tuition, four-year scholarship program for students that are seniors in high school or freshmen in college that are applying to the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
In the Room Where Decisions are Made: Caasi Woji’s Path to Presidency
Bold, kind, and confident, First Wave Scholar Caasi Woji (15th Cohort) is trailblazing her way through her senior year as both Senior Class Office President and Black History Month Planning Committee Co-Chair. Caasi grew up …
Apply to the First Wave Program!
Calling all young scholars, creatives and community leaders: we are excited to introduce you to our program, the first and only four-year, full-tuition scholarship for Hip Hop and urban arts: First Wave! First Wave …
A night of reckoning for students
‘What can you do every day to be more free?’
Thiahera Nurse writes to “heal and be healed” — or at least, she used to. “I wrote that in a bio at my peak, ‘poetry heals all,’ you know what I mean? I still carry …
‘I became like Kirby’
Talking with James D. Gavins, you can’t take any time off. He’ll have you thinking from the moment you shake his hand until long after you say goodbye. Even answering seemingly benign questions, like where …
Madison Emcee Takes One More Big Step Further on Latest Work
By: Henry Solotaroff-Webber Featured Image Courtesy of Rich Robbins On All.This.Gold, Madison emcee from Chicago Rich Robbins exhibits the ambition typical of a sophomore project with none of the pitfalls. A graduate of the University of Wisconsin’s …
The University of Wisconsin wasn’t attracting diverse applicants. So it did something bold
By: Samara DiMouro Ashley Thomas, a Harlem native and senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, never thought she’d end up in the Midwest.
Hip-hop academy – Isthmus | Madison, Wisconsin
By: Catherine Capellaro Recruited for their spoken word talents and offered full scholarships at the UW, First Wave scholars are breaking new ground on campus and beyond.
UW Student Finds Voice Through Rapping – In Madarin Chinese
By: Laurel White When Shuang Hu discovered her love of American hip hop as a nine-year-old in China, she felt very alone. “I was really misunderstood by a lot of people in China,” Hu, a …