What does an IWU education look like once it reaches the workplace?
In Murchison, Texas, it looks like a mother and daughter serving children in the same school district. In central Indiana, it looks like apprentices entering automotive service bays with skills employers need. The professions differ, but the measure is the same: what graduates know, how they work, and the difference their presence makes to the people around them.
Source: IWU-National and Global, August 2026
Tamica Hall and her daughter, Amaya Johnson, completed their teaching degrees through IWU’s Texas Teachers program through Teachworthy while working as paraprofessionals. Johnson now serves Murchison Independent School District (ISD) as a fourth-grade reading and fifth-grade science and social studies teacher, as well as a cheer coach. Hall teaches second grade and is a “true delight to her students and their families. Parents consistently hope their children will be placed in her class,” said Christy Wehrmann, assistant principal of academics at Murchison ISD. “Both are excellent teachers who genuinely love their students and model kindness, dedication, and faith through their service.”
Leaving their jobs to attend college was never an option. IWU’s flexible Texas Teachers program lets them keep serving their school while earning their degrees. “This opportunity allowed them to fulfill a lifelong dream while gaining valuable classroom experience,” Wehrmann said. “Throughout the journey, they felt encouraged, supported, and uplifted by IWU’s faith-centered approach.”
“Throughout the journey, they felt encouraged, supported, and uplifted by IWU’s faith-centered approach.”
The same commitment to meeting real workforce needs is taking shape through IWU’s Vocational Apprenticeship program, whose first cohort is entering automotive service bays in the greater Indianapolis and Lafayette, Indiana, areas, pairing academic preparation with hands-on experience in a field hungry for skilled employees.
That is where job-ready and mission-fit come together. An IWU education prepares graduates not simply to hold a position but to contribute through it, to be the hands and feet of Christ in ordinary ways. Sometimes the influence is unmistakable, as when parents request a particular teacher. Sometimes it is quieter: work done with excellence, a colleague treated with kindness, a customer served well. It is the kind of presence people notice, and remember, and it emanates through every community where IWU graduates serve.
