Alumni couple Caitlin Nelson and Evan Lloyd have established a choral music scholarship.

Young alumni give back early in their lives

When wedding bells ring for UW-Eau Claire graduates Caitlin Nelson and Evan Lloyd June 19 in Green Bay. guests at their wedding reception will receive a different kind of table favor. There will be a note at each place stating that in lieu of a party favor a donation has been made to a UW-Eau Claire Foundation scholarship fund for choral music education majors.

Both Nelson and Lloyd graduated in 2009 with degrees in music education.
The idea of the donation instead of a gift came from the wedding of Lloyd's cousin.

"Caitlin and I really liked that idea and started thinking about what charity or cause we would donate to before deciding on creating a scholarship through the university," Lloyd said.

The two wanted the $500 scholarship to help choral education majors during their student teaching semester.

"We were reminiscing about how hard it was for both of us financially during student teaching for choral education, because not only do you pay full tuition, but there are often many after-school commitments that take away from time you could be working," Nelson said.

Nelson and Lloyd understand the need for scholarships; both received several awards while attending UW-Eau Claire. Both received a Cabaret Scholarship. Lloyd also received the George C. Barland Music Scholarship. Nelson received the Associated Male Choruses of America (AMCA) Scholarship, Morris D. Hayes Choral Scholarship, Viennese Ball Scholarship and the Kopp Presidential Leadership Scholarship.

"As a student it was immeasurable how much scholarship money helped me," Nelson said. "Once a financial burden is lessened, it becomes much easier to focus on the learning that needs to take place."

Nelson is the vocal music director at Osseo-Fairchild High School and Middle School. Lloyd finished student teaching in January and is currently substitute teaching and job hunting. The young graduates say this is just the beginning of their commitment to UW-Eau Claire.

"My parents taught me early on that when you have, you give," Nelson said. "We don't have much, and we probably won't ever have much, but we have enough to continue to support the things we believe in."

Another young UW-Eau Claire alumnus who, like Nelson and Lloyd, benefited greatly from scholarship programs and grants has chosen to give back early in his career.

Ben Sykora, who graduated from UW-Eau Claire in 2006 with a dual major in physics and German, says he has established the Physics Beyond the Classroom Scholarship through the UW-Eau Claire Foundation as way of returning a favor to the university that helped him in many ways and made studying physics, an inherently difficult subject, fun.

"What made it fun was the faculty interaction and collaborative environment between students," Sykora said. "Not only was the faculty available for academic questions, they were also available for 'you can do it' motivation and general advice on life."

Sykora was selected as a Ronald E. McNair and Michael F. Friedrich scholar and was awarded student-faculty research grants through the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP)," Sykora said. 

"The obvious benefit was that I could focus on course work and undergraduate research without worrying about paying rent and tuition," Sykora said. "What I didn’t know then was how that experience would keep compounding into summer internships, research conferences, grad school, teaching/research assistantships and finally a good job at Trane in La Crosse."
 
When Sykora made his gift to the Foundation, he used the matching gift program of his employer, Trane/Ingersoll-Rand Co., which offers a 1-to-1 matching contribution for education donations.

"The donation was also tax deductible," Sykora said. "In the end, establishing a $500 scholarship ended up costing me about $175."

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