GENEROSITY
Building Global Perspectives When Judy Poferl ’82 attended Saint Ben’s, she never considered studying abroad because she assumed she couldn’t afford it. “It was a stretch for me financially to go to Saint Ben’s. I worked two summer jobs and did everything I could to go. So, I never entertained the possibility of doing study abroad. I watched friends do it and it looked like a wonderful experience. They came back different – worldly – and even their social groups changed. I saw that and knew it was a good thing, but I didn’t see it as a possibility for me,” Poferl said. When her son was young, she put money in a 529 account and began planting the seeds for a global college experience. “I would tell him, this will help you go to college and, when you do, you can study abroad. We talked about it all the time just to let him know it was possible,” she said. Fast forward to fall 2017 when her son Eli attended the Greco Roman trip through Saint John’s. The summer before he left, the pair spent long hours training together for marathons that fall – she for the Twins Cities marathon and he for the Athens marathon. When Poferl decided to visit her son while he was in Greece, the timeframe that worked best with her work schedule was during the Athens marathon. “I thought, when in the world am I ever going to be in Athens and be in shape to do a marathon? So, I jumped in and ran it, too. It was an absolutely wonderful experience. We finished our final lap in one of the Olympic stadiums. It was incredible,” she gasped. While she was in Athens, she noticed a difference in her son. He was more confident and was able to navigate his 40 40
Eli ’19 and Judy Poferl ’82 way through his new environment with apparent ease. “Seeing my son mature and forging relationships with the people who lived there, like the man at the local coffee shop, was wonderful. I knew this was going to give him a big advantage in life. He came back more confident and open to different cultures and other perspectives. I thought, I have to help more people experience this,” she said. While she was on the Saint Ben’s board of trustees, Poferl also became more sensitive to the costs that fell outside of financial aid when studying abroad. “Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s do a great job with financial aid to make it affordable, but there are some things like your visa, your plane ticket and travel outside of the study abroad program that aren’t covered by financial aid. For someone like me, who didn’t think I could afford to study abroad, those things would have been huge obstacles,” Poferl admitted. To help eliminate those obstacles, she created the Judy Forstner Poferl ’82
Endowment for Global Study with a gift of $350,000. The endowed fund helps several students each year pay for expenses that fall outside of traditional financial aid. In addition to her scholarship, Poferl gives to Saint Ben’s consistently because she believes the world needs more of what the college offers. “Saint Ben’s and Saint John’s are positioned to put out the quality people we need to help address the world’s problems. That’s why support of these schools is so important to the extent that we can give back. I’m in a position where I can help the next generation of Bennies and Johnnies go out and do good things. Who’s the young Judy out there who doesn’t think she can do it? I want to help her!” Find out more about creating a value-based estate plan of your own by reaching out to Ellie Varberg in our CSB Office of Planned Gving at ejvarberg.csbsju.edu or 320-363-5301
