Winners of Returning Adult Student Awards Announced

Janet Velasquez Saiz grew up in Nebraska, Cynthia Delcourt in Maine. Saiz came to Madison in 1972, started taking classes in 1975, and many years later decided to enroll full time and pursue a degree in history. Delcourt arrived here in 1991, entered UW–Madison in the fall of 1995, and is about to complete a degree in linguistics. This year these two women, who met six years ago in Madison and are now close friends, are co-winners of the Outstanding Undergraduate Returning Adult Student Awards.

“Janet Saiz and Cynthia Delcourt remind us that the greatest strength of this university is its students,” said Dean of Students Mary Rouse, who presented the awards at a reception April 25. “Their determination, energy and intellectual rigor can inspire any adult who hopes to return to school to complete a degree.”

Recipients of the Nancy W. Denney Memorial Scholarships and the Single Parent Undergraduate Student Scholarships were also honored at the reception.

After moving from Iowa to Madison in 1972, Saiz worked for many years for Bell Telephone and AT&T. She enrolled at UW–Madison in 1975 but soon found herself overwhelmed by the combination of three courses, a full-time job and raising a family. She continued taking courses on and off for nearly two decades before enrolling full time in 1992.

Saiz, who completes her B.A. in history this month, may enter graduate school in 1998. But first she will research and write a complete history of her people, the Ponca, who were displaced from their original homeland in Nebraska to Oklahoma in the early 1870s, drawing heavily on stories from her 87-year-old mother.

One of her sons, all four of which attended UW–Madison, will be the editor of her book. “I want my grandchildren to learn the history they have inherited from their fathers and their mothers,” she said.

While at the university Saiz has learned to look at the study of history in entirely new ways, especially through classes from such professors as Florencia Mallon, Steve Stern and David McDonald. “You can tell they are excited about history,” she said. “People who are genuinely interested in their work always do an excellent job.”

Delcourt, who will receive her B.A. in linguistics in December, has also overcome the barriers caused by minority status. For both of Delcourt’s parents, English is a second language: Her father is of French and Native American heritage and her mother’s heritage is Filipina, Spanish and Chinese.

“My parents grew up feeling that the only way to ‘make it’ in America was to deny their background,” she said. “But I’ve come to see our multicultural heritage as a rich source of strength, for ourselves and for the society as a whole.”

After graduating from high school in 1975, she worked at various jobs for more than 15 years. During that time she encountered over and over the limitations faced by any individual lacking a college degree.

In 1991 she moved to Madison, where her brother was also enrolled as a returning adult student. She enrolled full time at UW–Madison in fall 1995.

One of the most intense aspects of her time at UW–Madison has been the LASER (Letters and Science Experience in Research) Program, in which undergraduates enhance their understanding of how research is conducted. Currently she is taking part in a project to examine language socialization in various math, science and history classes at a high school in Milwaukee.

In addition to completing her degree, Delcourt has worked as a volunteer with many extracurricular and community organizations; as a home-based support provider with HospiceCare; in various capacities with the Tibetan Resettlement Project; and as an assistant to the teacher in an MATC class in English as a second language. She and Saiz met while both were dancing with the Drum and Dance group of Wunk Sheek, the Native American student organization.

Delcourt plans to begin graduate school in the fall of 1998. “I’m considering education as well as other options,” she said. “Ultimately I want to help others understand and express their unique multicultural identity as I am learning to do, in part through my experiences at the university.”