Scholarships give women boost to enter academia, business world

The Colorado Business and Professional Women’s Foundation (BPW) helps women at turning points in their lives.

The Foundation assists at moments that were so critical that without the help, recipients of their academic scholarships say, life would have been quite different for them, and perhaps not as good.

“I can’t emphasize enough what an incredible organization BPW was for me,´ said Jeanne Oliver, a 1979 recipient of the scholarship. “It was like an army of women was behind me saying ‘you can do it.’ My life could have taken such a different turn.” Oliver has worked 11 years at the Jefferson Center for Mental Health and is the vice president of marketing and communications. “I wouldn’t have this job without a bachelor’s degree,” she said.

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Since the year of its inception in 1976, the BPW Foundation Scholarship and loan program has provided academic scholarships and loans for 193 women. In 1995, Theresa Szczurek of Technology and Management Solutions took over as president and CEO and began the endowment fund. The group is 80 percent to their goal this year of $300,000. The Foundation is made up of women in business settings and professional women who want to help other women.

Jennifer Rockne, 38, is just such a woman. The 1999 recipient of the scholarship is a single mother of two. Enrolled at the University of Colorado at Denver, she’s studying communications. She said she wanted to return to school so to better understand how she could help others and to “grow my brain.”

“I’m grateful they were able to help me out,” Rockne said. “I would love to return what I can to show my gratitude.” After eight years out of academia, she’s reached a milestone. Rockne has just completed the first year of her master’s degree.

Rockne received her bachelor’s degree in 1987 and worked outside the home until she had her first child. It was raising the child that kept her home for almost 10 years. When she returned to the work force she got lucky. She landed a job with Audrey Nelson, a consultant to businesses on gender issues. Nelson became a friend and mentor.

“I was in the middle of a divorce,” Rockne said. “I was her administrative assistant. She helped me through the divorce and encouraged me to go back to school.” They worked together for four years. Nelson also inspired Rockne’s field of study.

“I’m sort of leaning toward gender communication,” Rockne said. But she’s also thinking about going into politics.

The scholarship was small, only $250. Rockne holds down two jobs to make ends meet. She works as a teacher’s assistant at Colorado University in Boulder. She also has a job with the Western Arts Federation. But receiving the scholarship, despite its size, meant a lot to her.

“Somebody sees the value in what I’m doing,” she said.

Tracee Gingrich, 40, also a working mother, said she feels the same way. “I realize I do have something important to say,” she said. “What it’s like to divorce, get an education as an older woman. To go back and learn what you’re good at.

“I applied for the BPW scholarship because I was applying for everything that moved,” she said. Once receiving the BPW scholarship for $750, it became easier to land others, she said. Gingrich is, for this semester at least, paid up. She attends the University of Denver woman’s college and is working on a bachelor’s degree in communications with a minor in business. Gingrich intends to graduate in 2001.

Gingrich’s story is a little like Rockne’s. For years she had a nice home and family. Then one day her husband filed for divorce.

“I have found that when something happens to your personal life it causes you to wake up to your professional life,” Gingrich said. In the course of her education she’s discovered a fondness for public speaking and language. She’s active in the woman’s crisis center and interested in the media and women’s rights. Because of her knowledge of Spanish, Gingrich hopes to one day use her skills to help Spanish women.

“I would love to reach my hand down and pull someone else up,” she said.