ALUMNI PERSPECTIVES
Ripon education transforms lives of first-generation students Providing educational opportunities to students whose parents did not graduate from a four-year college is a strong focus at Ripon College. Indeed, 48% of the Class of 2023 and 46% of the student body as a whole are first-generation students. U.S. News & World Report ranks Ripon College as the top liberal arts school in Wisconsin and 22nd nationally for colleges that promote social mobility. The ranking measures schools’ success at supporting their students from low-income families and rates them based on the graduation rates of those students. Many of the first-generation students also are from low-income families. Here are stories from among the thousands of Ripon’s first-generation graduates.
As a freshman in 1957 at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, I was thrown into the higher education grinder. I, along with probably at least 20% of the freshman class, exited after a grinding year.
I do believe Ripon provided me with a great degree of social mobility. It also provided me with a solid foundation that I built upon by earning my MBA at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. I am the only person in my immediate family to earn a graduate degree. My education was beyond the classroom — my classmates exposed me to a variety of viewpoints and social classes that were different than my own — in a safe environment. I was also fortunate to study abroad in France during my sophomore year — just as I was seriously considering dropping out.
Renee Pfeifer-Luckett ’87 Janesville, Wisconsin 22
| RIPON
College
From my Chicago church, a fellow teen was attending Ripon. I visited immediately that summer. What a difference from the grinder. Here was a relaxed loving home for students to be immersed in true education in the direction of their choosing! Everything about Ripon made me enjoy learning, from the formal process but equally for the association with my classmates due to the homelike intimate surroundings. My parents were German emigrants who greatly valued education, but through circumstances never had the opportunity for higher education themselves. But through hard work in America they were able to pay full tuition for the education of their two children.
Living on campus at Ripon College and being in a learning environment even outside of the classroom helped me learn how to be a successful college student. The guidance I received from my on-campus employers helped me determine my path forward as a professional. I received mentoring from my peers, the staff and the faculty. I learned how to ask questions, find support and have confidence in myself. I am proud that I am the first in my family to graduate with a AB, MA and Ph.D. Ripon College gave me the foundation to keep pushing ahead in my education and career.
Carolyn Duven ’04 Duluth, Georgia
Ripon does that and turns out good, educated citizens. Me. Always thankful to Ripon.
The personal relationships I developed at Ripon helped me overcome the challenges I faced as a first-generation college student. Various professors, staff and administrators helped me believe that I could go anywhere and do anything. I’m now a graduate student at Johns Hopkins University-Nanjing University Center for Chinese and American Studies in China; I wouldn’t be here if not for the mentorship I received at Ripon College.
Henry Holzkamper ’62 Bonita Springs, Florida
Daniel Mikesell ’14 Nanjing, China
Ripon was and always will be a sanctuary for those who want to get truly educated. Dr. (William) Tyree told us that sometimes you have to “put aside the books and tend to the education.”
