A life-changing course
Scholarships give 2008 grad time to explore career paths
If it weren’t for scholarships, Catherine Matthys might never have dreamed of becoming a physician and establishing a health clinic in Tanzania.
The young Portlander, who graduated from the University of Oregon in 2008 with majors in mathematics and chemistry, received both the Alice Blakely Brink Presidential Scholarship and a Bowerman Scholarship.
Because of these scholarships, she was able to maintain a manageable work schedule while also taking part in campus activities such as pre-med and global health student-interest groups. In addition, she participated in the Cultural Forum, a student-funded programming board that brings to campus a broad selection of musicians, performing artists, speakers, and films, as well as a host of other cultural events.
On the academic side, Catherine conducted scientific research and tutored other students. Those opportunities “basically changed where my life was going,” she says.
“My scholarships meant the world to me because they opened a lot of doors that would have otherwise been closed,” she adds.
Campaign Oregon, the UO’s recently concluded fund raising initiative, generated almost $100 million for scholarships to benefit students such as Catherine.
After graduation, Catherine moved to Tanzania to work in a hospital with local doctors, to conduct a needs assessment for health care volunteers at hospitals around the east African country, and to establish an HIV-AIDS prevention program.
After two years in Tanzania, she plans to return to the states to pursue her medical degree and then return to Tanzania to establish a clinic. “So many people don’t have access to medicine,” she says. “I’ve seen the situation over there, and it’s really heartbreaking.”
“I think scholarship money makes a huge difference in terms of opportunities that really enrich students’ education because college is one of the only times in your life where you can explore all the different options out there,” she says.