Alumnae Profile

Donor-funded President’s Emergency Fund aids students in times of need

BY AMY LAMACCHIA

Vonisha Guy wanted to stay in school. As a single mother of five, she knew getting her Our President’s Emergency Fund has made the difference in multiple cases in people keeping their living degree in social work from Mount Mary would help her provide for her family. Life was already a juggling act with MMU classes, working second or third shift and her kids’ schedules. Then COVID-19 hit. arrangements and feeding their children. I am so grateful we can provide this desperately needed assistance because of our generous alumnae and friends. Like the rest of the world, Guy hadn’t planned Christine Pharr, Ph.D. on a pandemic. She hadn’t planned on being President, Mount Mary University out of work, either. Due to the shut-downs and the fact that her children would be learning from home, she had to make the tough decision to leave her job. During this past year of unprecedented struggle, the need has risen significantly. Although things are slowly turning While out of work, Guy struggled. She knew staying in around, Mount Mary wants to make sure we continue to school was the best decision she could make but as bills support students so they can stay in school and complete piled up and her car was in need of repairs, she wondered their goals of graduating. With 55% of Mount Mary how she was going to make ends meet. That’s when students coming from low-income backgrounds, she learned about Mount Mary University’s President’s there is always a need. Emergency Fund. Like Guy, COVID-19 has certainly affected many Mount The President’s Emergency Fund offers assistance to Mary students and their families, and our President’s Mount Mary students who are suffering from unexpected Emergency Fund has made the difference in multiple financial hardships so they are able to meet basic needs cases in people keeping their living arrangements and and stay in school. Funds are used to help with whatever feeding their children. is needed from basics like food, medicine and feminine hygiene products to bigger expenses such as rent, child care and transportation. Today, Guy has a new job using her skills and experience and recently received a promotion. She’ll be graduating in December with a degree in Social Work. She attributes the Since COVID-19 struck in March of 2020, the President’s support she received from the President’s Emergency Fund Emergency Fund has become a lifeline for many with keeping her in school. MMU students. The fund has awarded over $60,000 of assistance over the past 12 months to 46 students who needed it to stay afloat. These funds have helped students like Thanks to the generosity of this community, she knows that she has a support system at Mount Mary, and that she isn’t alone. Guy continue their schooling. “This award really helped me stay in Amy La Macchia is Mount Mary’s school and made it so I didn’t have to director of donor relations. take out more loans,” she said.

From assimilated to liberated Today, Linda Langen ’10, ’18, embraces her Langen passes along understanding personal identity as an active member of the Oneida tribe, attending general council meetings in Green Bay and serving on a tribal advisory of cultural heritage board. Professionally, she works as a school counselor in Milwaukee, supporting children in their own journeys. It wasn’t always like this for Langen, who spent her youth in the 1970s and 80s trying hard to assimilate into the dominant white culture. “I did not want to be different,” she said, recalling how she used to tint her hair with blonde highlights, “I wanted to blend in and be like everyone else.” But her journey toward self-actualization — and deep pride in her personal history — began at Mount Mary. “I took a class in anthropology where we had an assignment to learn more about our culture,” she recalled. This led to reaching out to the Southeastern Oneida Tribal Services office and enrolling in language and craft classes. Before long, Langen had opened her world, making connections with others from local First Nation tribes, Ho-Chunk, Ojibwa, Lac du Flambeau, Potawatomi, Bad River, Menomonie, StockbridgeMunsee, Red Cliff, and Lac Courte Oreilles. As an MPS elementary school counselor at Burbank, Forest Home Avenue and Victory Schools, Langen passes along the importance of authenticity in the face of societal pressures, which she calls, “advocating for others’ selfadvocacy.” Her daughter, Guinevere Duquaine ’12, graduated from Mount Mary with a bachelor’s degree in Behavioral Science and works for the First Nations Studies Program with MPS as an academic advisor. Langen will return to Mount Mary this fall to work on her Ph.D. in Mount Mary’s new Counselor Education and Supervision program. This program is the only Ph.D. of its kind in the metro Milwaukee area, preparing graduates to teach on a collegiate level, and for professional practice in multicultural settings. Langen’s Oneida name, Kanatiyostha, means, “she makes a place good.” How fitting it is to return to the place where her awakening first began. “Knowing my heritage helps strengthen and educate myself and the Milwaukee community.”