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.

Renee Pfeifer-Luckett ’87, Janesville, Wisconsin

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.

Henry Holzkamper ’62 , Bonita Springs, Florida

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.

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.

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.”

Ripon does that and turns out good, educated citizens. Me. Always thankful to Ripon.

Carolyn Duven ’04, Duluth, Georgia

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.

Daniel Mikesell ’14, Nanjing, China

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.

Nancy Lee Reno Thomas Meinel ’60, Monroe, Louisiana

I didn’t think of myself as a first-generation college student because my mother had graduated from Oshkosh Teachers College in a two-year certificate program in 1931; and since it was at the beginning of the Great Depression was unable to find a teaching position, so she worked at Kline’s Department Store in Oshkosh selling shoes. My father had grown up in rural Missouri, and Paris High School only went through 11th grade. He received a scholarship to the University of Missouri in Columbia, but he couldn’t afford the clothes and shoes to go to college. So he left home to work at OshKosh B’Gosh Overall Co., where he worked his way up from the shipping department to the cutting room and was president of the Garment Workers Union and vice president of the State Federation of Labor. He made overalls until the day he died in 1967 at age 63.

Nancy Lee Reno Thomas Meinel ’60

I received three scholarships to attend Ripon. I graduated with no debt, got married and began to teach in Columbus, Ohio. Four years later, my husband and I were sent as Lutheran missionaries to Ethiopia and attended Amharic Language School for the first year. My husband later died of injuries from a Jeep accident and was buried in our Mekone Yesus Church Cemetery in Adult, Ethiopia. After a year of traveling with my two young children, speaking to churches around the country, I entered library school at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, earning a master’s degree. I worked as a school librarian over a 41-year period. I also earned a “Plus 30” Graduate Certificate in gerontology at the University of Louisiana Monroe.

Ripon provided lifelong sisters. I was a member of Pi Tau Pi sorority, a charter member of Delta Pi Chapter of Alpha Delta Pi and was chosen for Phi Beta Kappa. Our Pi Tau group meets every two years; we are lifelong friends. In 2020, we will gather In Omaha, Nebraska.

Xavier Polanski ’74, La Grange, Illinois

Neither of my parents was able to finish high school because tough economic times in their families forced them to quit school to get jobs to support their families. So, completing college was very special for me.

My mom and dad worked in factories. My dad later shifted to a technician job developing new products. My mom worked in a factory until her first son was born. I have often wondered what career my dad would have had if the Depression had not prevented him from going to college. He would have been quite an engineer. Nevertheless, my folks were smart, and they were very good parents. We were always content with what they provided, and we enjoyed life.

Going to college enabled me to study physics and then work as an engineer on various aspects of commercial nuclear power for my entire career, putting my family in the upper-middle class. More importantly, what I learned enabled me to use my talents to serve others. And, beyond career, Ripon broadened my knowledge dramatically, making life more interesting and more rewarding.

Richard A. Wueste ’71, Winchester, Virginia

I arrived on campus in late summer 1967, so naive I didn’t know you had to pay your tuition bill before you could register for classes. I had earned enough from summer work to bridge the gap between scholarships and tuition owed, but had to phone home and borrow money to pay for books.

Richard A. Wueste ’71

At Ripon, I had a freshman advisor plus an advisor for political science, my intended major. Dr. Seale Doss, my freshman advisor, signed me up for his intro philosophy class and I became a double major. Ripon faculty consistently understood when to hold out a hand and when to kick me in the butt. I learned that grammar and spelling mattered. I learned how to study. How to write. How to think about different things in different ways. I developed a love for higher education that charted my career path.

Every day, something I learned at Ripon helps me solve a problem or move a project forward. I’m not rich and never will be, but I’ve been contributing to the Annual Fund (Ripon Fund) for more than 40 years. I won’t ever repay the investment Ripon made in me, but I’m never going to cease trying.

Because of Ripon, I was able to attend the University of Chicago’s Law School. Because of Ripon, I understood that I had no interest in practicing law but could use my law school learning to build a life in higher education.