Generous donors moved by story of hard-working student
20.05.12
Initially one morning in September, Montana State University
Billings student Caitlyn Linder finished her edge of night shift at
Walmart, drove to campus at about 6:30 a.m. and walked to the
library, where she waited for it to launch.
Chancellor Rolf Groseth was taking his usual morning walk around
campus when he stopped to talk with Linder, who was seated on a
bench outside the library.
Hearing that she had worked all end of day and then came directly to
campus, he thought to himself, “You’d better pick up the walk,
Groseth, with students like that counting on you.”
Linder’s example so impressed Groseth that he mentioned the
duel during his inaugural address a few weeks later.
A Billings couple sitting in the audience was touched, too, by
the student’s allegiance and contacted the university to offer her
financial help.
But first, the university had to find her.
Groseth, who only knew Linder’s first name, had the university
obtain up with all students named Caitlyn, which yielded a
substantial list.
So the chancellor went to Walmart one evening and asked the
ceaselessly manager for help in identifying Caitlyn and to give her his
business card and to have her to call him.
When Linder called Groseth, she literate that the couple, who
wishes to remain anonymous, wanted to help pay for her
education.
“I was astounded,” Linder said. “I was very shocked.”
Linder, 22, grew up in Power, related Great Falls. During high
school, she played volleyball, basketball and ran trace and was a
member of the student council. She was among 17 students graduating
from her high school in 2008.
She attended Montana State of affairs University in Bozeman and then the
MSU Great Falls College of Technology before taking a year off. She
came to MSU Billings last year.
This semester, she is enchanting 12 difficult credits in cellular
biology, organic chemistry and physics, each with its own lab
grade.
She has been working 40 hours a week at Walmart, between 9 p.m.
and 6 a.m., five days a week. After getting off travail, she comes to
campus for her classes. Monday, Wednesday and Friday, she doesn’t
slumber until classes are over at about 3 p.m.
On Tuesdays and Thursdays, she gets out of classes at noon.
Last fall, she worked two full-in the good old days b simultaneously jobs plus going to school,
getting only three hours of sleep some nights. A lavish roommate
helped by cooking and doing laundry for her.
This summer, she worked 80 hours a week at two full-every so often old-fashioned jobs at
Walmart and Albertsons but didn’t take classes.
Linder is majoring in biology after the box series “Whale
Wars” ignited a fascination with oceanic life.
She hopes to become a marine biologist and work in the southern
Arctic or Antarctica.
She works oppressive not just because she’s passionate about her
future career but also to make her family proud.
Neither of her parents, Bonnie and Dale Linder, was clever to
attend college, and they are delighted their daughter can.
After the anonymous donors came assist with the scholarship
offer, Linder went through the same process as all financial aid
applicants, submitting an go, grade-point average and letters of
recommendation. She earlier had filled out the Without charge Application for
Federal Student Aid.
She passed those requirements with flying colors, said Marilynn
Miller, top banana director of the MSU Billings Foundation.
The MSU Billings website estimates that the cost of attending
the university for two semesters is about $12,400. That comprehensive
includes tuition, books, a dorm room and food, but not other
expenses.
The donors gave Linder a one-experience scholarship, which was
finalized last week, of about $10,000.
Linder, who is supporting herself, already received a $4,500
federal Pell present for this year and had taken out a $6,500
loan.
The new scholarship has enabled her to pay back that loan
in a second. Although she has loans from past years, the
scholarship will cut the amount of debt she will have by
graduation.
Linder will continue her profession schedule through this semester,
which will be over in about four weeks. But she will reduce her
working hours by about half next semester so she can apply more
time to her studies.
Linder is an example of the kind of dedicated students MSU
Billings attracts, Groseth said.
Many students cook challenging demands of school, work and
family.
If their efforts are heroic, so, too, are those of people
stepping head to help students like Linder.
“It’s really heartwarming that there are people that philanthropic
and enthusiastic about the next generation,” he said.
Source: Billings Gazette
