Scholarship Good News and Bad News

"I have some good news, some bad news, and some good news."

Jeanne Stangel, interim Assistant Chancellor for University Advancement, spoke from a downstage lecturn at the Weidner Center on the UW-Green Bay campus. But instead of facing the three tiers of cloth-backed seats, she turned her back to the gorgeous auditorium and faced toward the stage, toward us.

The good news she teased us with was that the stage was filled elbow to elbow, seat back to seat back with UWGB scholarship donors and scholarship students. The bad news was there was no more room on the Broadway-sized Weidner stage. The cavernous stage had reached its capacity during this, the 17th-Annual Chancellor's Scholarship Reception. The good news was that was the kind of problem a university wants to have: more donors than space.

The annual fall reception brought together scholarship donors with the students who received those donations. It's a great idea to match up scholarships with real faces. My wife and I fund a small named scholarship and look forward to the chance to meet our student, who, to our delight this year, brought along his mother. Both of us were helped by scholarship money when we went to college, so our donation is just paying forward those donors who helped us in the past. Scholarship money, even our small grant, does make a difference. Stangel pointed out those who receive scholarships are more likely to continue than those students who do not.

The bad news is that the need for financial assistance continues to grow. The good news is that more and more college graduates are accepting the challenge to help current struggling college students. Students who receive scholarships know there are others out there who believe in them. At events like the Weidner reception, they meet and talk with us. And, once students turn that belief into an inner confidence, they take a big step toward their personal success.

The good news is in addition to alumni campaigns, staff and faculty are also helping as best they can. Individual faculty and department groups at UWGB funded a number of scholarships that were announced at the Weidner event. That seems to be a trend at other local colleges. At NWTC, my day job, colleagues achieved an amazing 93-percent donation rate during last fall's foundation campaign. That is money that goes directly to the students we see in the classroom each day.

So yes, bad news, there are growing needs among our students, but, good news, more and more community philanthropists, alumni, faculty and staff are stepping forward, answering the call to help students pursue their dreams of college success. Scholarship donors are not just investing in an individual student, but in the idea that supporting education is the keystone to university and community advancement. A motivated, dedicated, post-secondary graduate base from UWGB, from NWTC, and from other area colleges bodes well for the future of our area. That is the best good news of all.

Pole Climber Class Picture

On September 20, 2013, I blogged about the best class I ever had: students from the Electrical Power Distribution program. This week, another "Pole Climber" class had their class picture taken in a most appropriate location on campus. I am posting it here as a followup to the earlier blog. This is a different group from my students, but it seems, by the photo, another class carries on with energy and enthusiasm.

Novelist Frederick Buechner said, "Find that place where your deep gladness and the world's deep hunger meet." The Pole Climbers have found it, about 40-feet up.