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FSPA scholarship recipients celebrate graduation from Viterbo University

Colleen Roush

Thanks in part to help from the FSPA, two young mothers graduated from Viterbo University in May. After years of hard work, Colleen Roush and Cindy Eirschele donned their caps and gowns for 2005 graduation, and are now putting their newly-earned degrees to use. Both say that without the financial support afforded them through the FSPA scholarship it would not have been possible. The FSPA scholarship was established at Viterbo University in 1999 to provide funding for women or minorities who would not attend college due to circumstances such as poverty, cultural barriers, dysfunctional family situations or a rural background.

Sister Rochelle Potaracke served as liaison between FSPA and Viterbo University for the administration of the scholarships, and helped support the women to keep them on track. She says the scholarships given to Colleen and Cindy come from the sisters who have worked so hard all of their lives, as evidenced by worn out shoes, calloused hands, and late nights at the hospital. "We're just handing out from the basket of their wealth, from their hard work."

Colleen Roush says the FSPA scholarship changed her life. She applied for the scholarship at the urging of her employer, who knew Colleen wanted to go back to school. She says she thought it was a "one in a million" chance that she would be awarded the scholarship. "That is the whole reason I went back to school, because I got the scholarship. Before that, it was just a dream, and really far off and out of reach. So it's changed my life completely, and I know I wouldn't be here unless I had gotten that."

Cindy Eirschele was dealing with the aftermath of a "devastating" divorce: moving her household, putting her three children in new schools and struggling to pay the bills. If not for the scholarship, she says, she never would have considered going back to school. "I never thought I would get it. It was just like entering a lottery," she says. "I just wanted to start all over and for once do something for me. And this has allowed me to do that. The opportunity to go back to school was just awesome."

Cindy Eirschele

Now Colleen has passed the state test to become a registered dietician. She is currently working at Reinhart Corp. as a dietician analyzing menus and foods. She also volunteers on the Hunger Task Force.

Cindy, who served as an intern at Justice Sanctions in La Crosse while in school, is now employed there, helping individuals transition out of jail. Justice Sanctions is an agency that offers alternatives to incarceration, that favor providing treatment to individuals for their core issues. Cindy also passed the board exam and is now a licensed Wisconsin social worker, and is the first social worker employed at the La Crosse County Jail. For the first time in five years, Cindy is self-sufficient, and doesn't need state or local assistance. She is also taking part in the Citizen Police Academy.

Colleen says she's very grateful to the FSPA. "It was an amazing gift, because I never would have gone back to school, and I literally dreamt of going back to school. I never did well, [I] got married really, really young, and so I always felt like I could have done it, but I was always scared to go back. So when I got the scholarship and everything really fell into place, I felt pushed in that direction. And now I know I really can do it, and that in itself is a really amazing gift."

According to Colleen, her husband is also happy about her graduation, because it allows him to cut back from the 58-hour work week he's been carrying for more than a decade. Colleen says having a degree will help her support her two children: son Wallace Jr. who is 13, and daughter Ashley, 15, who has special needs. In addition, Colleen says she hopes her degree will help her give back to society. "Life had been kind of hard, and I always think there's a purpose for things. I'm hoping there's something really great at the end that will help me change other people's lives."

Sister Rochelle knows the scholarship will have a lasting impact. "Throughout history the FSPA have donated money around the world-Africa, California, Mississippi, all over. And this has been so special to me because we're talking about people who are in our midst. And I think if you can educate somebody, and look what they're going to do with it. Look what it means for the La Crosse community or wherever they live. It's a gift to people here in La Crosse."

The biggest challenge throughout her college education, says Colleen, was caring for her daughter while trying to keep up on her studies. During Colleen's freshman year in college, her daughter Ashley was hospitalized nine times and was having seizures almost constantly. "I would be doing homework and rubbing her back while she was having a seizure, because there was just no time when she was not seizing. I think that was the hardest, because I really felt pulled in all different directions."

For Cindy, learning how to use a computer was a huge challenge. "I didn't think I would ever get it," she says. But she says the bigger challenge was balancing school work with family time. Without the support of her parents and children, she says, she couldn't have done it.

Cindy also expresses thanks to the faculty and staff at Viterbo University and the FSPA. "They have done millions of things for me that go far beyond the education-emotionally, the way I look at myself, the way I see myself, the ways of my future. Before, I just didn't think I had one at all. They have allowed me to really do something with my world."

"It's a graduation celebration for all of us, because we have all taken a major step in walking with them," says Sister Rochelle. "I know how proud they each are going to be about the work they have done, and I know what it will mean to their families. Much of it we will never know, but they will carry it with them and I think it will be a blessing to each of us that we have been a part of their lives."

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