Scholarship opens door to a larger world

Chris DuPré

When Erin Buros arrived in 1997 at UW–Madison, she was a shy girl from La Crosse.

“I didn’t really want to come here at first. I was really scared to leave home,” she says. “I never could have given an interview” like this.

Now, with a dual major in French and elementary education, Buros exudes confidence, is a nanny for two young children, tutors another boy and has taken classes at the Sorbonne University of Paris.

“After six years, the university has really helped me grow up,” she says.

Buros, who works in the UW Foundation mailroom, is a recipient of the Walter, Helen and Loretta Feldt Memorial Scholarship. John Feldt, Foundation senior vice president for finance and administration, established the scholarship to honor his late father, mother and wife. Student employees of the foundation are eligible.

“I’ve received the Feldt scholarship twice now,” she said. “It’s obviously not a full ride, but every little bit helps. My parents help some, but I rely on scholarships and the three jobs that I have.”

Buros first had her eye on colleges closer to home such as UW-La Crosse and Winona (Minn.) State University.

But a friend encouraged her to consider UW–Madison, and “once I got here, I loved it,” she says. “I feel like the people here are so different. La Crosse is a fairly normal-sized Wisconsin town, but I’d never lived in a bigger city.”

“If I hadn’t come here, I never would have gone to Paris. It just opened a whole world for me,” she says.

Although Buros took four years of French in high school, she didn’t intend on majoring in the language. She took it her first semester to receive “retro” credits for her high school study. “Then every semester I would look for another French class,” says Buros. “I kept taking it, and then I was so close.

“I came upon the opportunity to study in France. If I wouldn’t have gone abroad, I probably wouldn’t have finished” the French major. she says.

Her semester in Paris, in spring 2002, was almost canceled in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on the United States.

“And while I was over there, they were having their presidential elections, and the riots broke out” over the candidacy of anti-immigration right-wing leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, who eventually lost to incumbent Jacques Chirac, she says. “There was a lot going on.”

Most of Buros’s attention in Paris was focused on classes, some administered through a program called Accent and some at the Sorbonne.

“I had been to France once before in high school, but when I was living there I got to really take my time” and see the country, she said. “I went through several chateaus and went to Nice and Cannes, and spent some time down there. I took my spring break to Corsica; I spent a week in Madrid. It was a real eye-opening experience.”

Now, Buros — who likes to play tennis, volleyball and softball and has a passion for movies — sees her UW–Madison days nearing their end. She’s preparing to student teach in the spring semester and finish her elementary education degree.

“Coming to Madison has been the best experience,” she says. “It’s really changed me.”