Moving Forward

Where there’s a will, there’s a way—particularly if you are willing to work hard to further your education at Louisiana State University at Eunice.

For St. Landry Parish students just leaving high school, an innovative scholarship program devised by LSU-E students themselves will help those who may not qualify for other grants to get financial aid.

For people who have been in the work force for several years, a Community Engagement Program helps make the transition from work to campus.

Further, administrators are seeking approval to use Pell Grants to help high-achieving, low-income St. Landry Parish high school students attend classes in science, technology, engineering and math.

The Future Finders scholarship program innovated by LSU-E students provides funding for average-achievement students who may not qualify for traditional financial aid for their first semester. Funding can continue for a second semester if the student does well academically.

The focus is on the students’ determination, good will, and desire to continue their education, according to chemistry professor and honors program instructor, Dr. Chad Huval.

“It’s the students who came up with the project,” he said. “I helped direct and lead it, but the students [in his honors class] came up with the idea.”

“It is no secret that having a college degree enables one to earn more money in the workplace. Every successful student in this program will help to reduce the number of families living in poverty,” according to the program’s description.

The program also gives students the incentive to work hard at his or her studies. If the student’s GPA is below a 2.5, he or she is not eligible to receive the second $1,000, and a student should lose the funding is not eligible to receive it in the future.

The Community Engagement Program headed by Madelaine Landry, executive director of the LSUE Foundation and coordinator of the LSUE 

Alumni Association and LSUE Institutional Development, helps students such as Ray Zorn, a 38-year-old living in Opelousas who is studying administrative management or 36-year-old Keesha Menard, who drives 40 miles to the LSU-E campus.

, “I worked in the oil field for 15 years and just sort of reached the invisible glass ceiling that you can’t progress in the future without having an education.” Zorn said.

Menard dropped out of school in the eighth grade and has worked in health care in radiology and patient care jobs. Her first goal is an associate degree in registered nursing and she would eventually like to be a nurse practitioner.

Why does she make the long drive?

“I worked with radiologists and doctors and they always told me LSU-E has the best nursing program,” she said
Zorn and Menard were among a delegation from LSU-E attending a recent meeting of the  St. Landry Parish Economic Industrial Development District.

“They have returned to school because they realize ‘I’m not going any further without some formal education,’” according to Bill Rodier, economic development director for the parish. “Many people do not appreciate the value of having a college like Louisiana State University at Eunice in the area. These are just two examples of what LSU-E can mean not only to the region but in individual lives.”

It was the fourth time a group from LSU-E has visited the economic group’s board meeting, according to Landry.

“This has been really effective,” she said. “They learn about what’s important in their community from the economic development standpoint.”

Donors interested in funding financial aid programs or in providing help for the college generally, can contact the LSU-E Foundation which accepts contributions for student scholarships, as well as for other university activities and organizations, according to Landry.