UNO Fund Student Scholarship Stories – Reagan Folda
As a student in the Sign Language Interpreting program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Reagan Folda understands the importance of a clear and
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Gifts through the UNK Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
UNK has a proud tradition of excellence and support when it comes to Loper Athletics and enjoy great success in all sports.
Find specific areas to support within your college, department, program or area of interest.
Looking for ways to make the greatest impact to the University of Nebraska at Kearney and its students? Here are some great options.
No matter your circumstances. No matter your age or financial situation. If leaving a legacy is important to you, we can help through planned giving.
UNK AA has been working since 1906 to promote communication and interaction among more than 40,000 alumni, students, faculty, administrators and friends of the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Gifts through the N Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
Husker athletic programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are a source of pride for alumni and Nebraskans throughout the state and around the world.
Find specific areas to support within your college, department, program or area of interest.
Looking for ways to make the greatest impact to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and its students? Here are some great options.
No matter your circumstances. No matter your age or financial situation. If leaving a legacy is important to you, we can help through planned giving.
NAA is a nonprofit organization that connects alumni with Dear Old Nebraska U, and with each other, for the betterment of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Gifts through the Innovation Funds let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
There are many ways to give including employer matching, payroll giving, donor advised funds, tangible property, grain, stocks and more.
Find specific areas to support within your college, department, program or area of interest.
Looking for ways to make the greatest impact to the University of Nebraska Medical Center and its students? Here are some great options.
No matter your circumstances. No matter your age or financial situation. If leaving a legacy is important to you, we can help through planned giving.
The mission of the UNMC Alumni Relations Office is to serve and engage with learners and graduates through effective communications, the formation of meaningful relationships, and opportunities to invest in the advancement of the university through gifts of time, talent, and treasure.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Gifts through the UNO Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
Our athletes are competing at the Division I level in collegiate sports, not only enhance the visibility of UNO, but also to provide great benefits to all of Omaha.
Find specific areas to support within your college, department, program or area of interest.
Looking for ways to make the greatest impact to the University of Nebraska at Omaha and its students? Here are some great options.
No matter your circumstances. No matter your age or financial situation. If leaving a legacy is important to you, we can help through planned giving.
UNO AA is an organization focused on strengthening connections with more than 100,000 UNO alumni, students and friends from all over the world.
Nebraska Medicine and its research and education partner, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, share the same mission: to lead the world in transforming lives to create a healthy future for all individuals and communities through premier educational programs, innovative research and extraordinary patient care.
These funds support innovative initiatives at Nebraska Medicine that allow the academic health network to take advantage of emerging opportunities.
There are many ways to give including employer matching, payroll giving, donor advised funds, tangible property, grain, stocks and more.
Looking for ways to make the greatest impact at Nebraska Medicine? Here are some great options.
No matter your circumstances. No matter your age or financial situation. If leaving a legacy is important to you, we can help through planned giving.
The mission of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska is to transform the lives of young children by improving their learning and development.
Every day, nearly a billion people in the world do not have enough safe and nutritious food to lead healthy and active lives. Many of them also lack access to enough clean water to meet their needs. By 2050, our global food demand will double to meet the needs of nearly 10 billion people, making water and food security one of the most urgent global challenges of our time.
Looking for ways to make the greatest impact? Here are some great options.
No matter your circumstances. No matter your age or financial situation. If leaving a legacy is important to you, we can help through planned giving.
Your giving to this area enables the president’s office to quickly direct resources to various university projects and areas across the system as needs arise.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Gifts through the UNK Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Gifts through the N Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Gifts through the Innovation Funds let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Gifts through the UNO Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
Add your voice and your support to see the power of the crowd in action.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Gifts through the UNK Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
UNK has a proud tradition of excellence and support when it comes to Loper Athletics and enjoy great success in all sports.
Find specific areas to support within your college, department, program or area of interest.
Looking for ways to make the greatest impact to the University of Nebraska at Kearney and its students? Here are some great options.
No matter your circumstances. No matter your age or financial situation. If leaving a legacy is important to you, we can help through planned giving.
UNK AA has been working since 1906 to promote communication and interaction among more than 40,000 alumni, students, faculty, administrators and friends of the University of Nebraska at Kearney.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Gifts through the N Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
Husker athletic programs at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln are a source of pride for alumni and Nebraskans throughout the state and around the world.
Find specific areas to support within your college, department, program or area of interest.
Looking for ways to make the greatest impact to the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and its students? Here are some great options.
No matter your circumstances. No matter your age or financial situation. If leaving a legacy is important to you, we can help through planned giving.
NAA is a nonprofit organization that connects alumni with Dear Old Nebraska U, and with each other, for the betterment of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Gifts through the Innovation Funds let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
There are many ways to give including employer matching, payroll giving, donor advised funds, tangible property, grain, stocks and more.
Find specific areas to support within your college, department, program or area of interest.
Looking for ways to make the greatest impact to the University of Nebraska Medical Center and its students? Here are some great options.
No matter your circumstances. No matter your age or financial situation. If leaving a legacy is important to you, we can help through planned giving.
The mission of the UNMC Alumni Relations Office is to serve and engage with learners and graduates through effective communications, the formation of meaningful relationships, and opportunities to invest in the advancement of the university through gifts of time, talent, and treasure.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Gifts through the UNO Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
Our athletes are competing at the Division I level in collegiate sports, not only enhance the visibility of UNO, but also to provide great benefits to all of Omaha.
Find specific areas to support within your college, department, program or area of interest.
Looking for ways to make the greatest impact to the University of Nebraska at Omaha and its students? Here are some great options.
No matter your circumstances. No matter your age or financial situation. If leaving a legacy is important to you, we can help through planned giving.
UNO AA is an organization focused on strengthening connections with more than 100,000 UNO alumni, students and friends from all over the world.
Nebraska Medicine and its research and education partner, the University of Nebraska Medical Center, share the same mission: to lead the world in transforming lives to create a healthy future for all individuals and communities through premier educational programs, innovative research and extraordinary patient care.
These funds support innovative initiatives at Nebraska Medicine that allow the academic health network to take advantage of emerging opportunities.
There are many ways to give including employer matching, payroll giving, donor advised funds, tangible property, grain, stocks and more.
Looking for ways to make the greatest impact at Nebraska Medicine? Here are some great options.
No matter your circumstances. No matter your age or financial situation. If leaving a legacy is important to you, we can help through planned giving.
The mission of the Buffett Early Childhood Institute at the University of Nebraska is to transform the lives of young children by improving their learning and development.
Every day, nearly a billion people in the world do not have enough safe and nutritious food to lead healthy and active lives. Many of them also lack access to enough clean water to meet their needs. By 2050, our global food demand will double to meet the needs of nearly 10 billion people, making water and food security one of the most urgent global challenges of our time.
Looking for ways to make the greatest impact? Here are some great options.
No matter your circumstances. No matter your age or financial situation. If leaving a legacy is important to you, we can help through planned giving.
Your giving to this area enables the president’s office to quickly direct resources to various university projects and areas across the system as needs arise.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska at Kearney. Gifts through the UNK Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Gifts through the N Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska Medical Center. Gifts through the Innovation Funds let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
The greatest needs of the University of Nebraska-Omaha. Gifts through the UNO Fund let you make a bigger difference on campus, your college and students.
Add your voice and your support to see the power of the crowd in action.
Home > Taking History to the Mat
A UNK student’s migration from wrestling to research
Parker Witthuhn came to the University of Nebraska at Kearney to study history and political science. But more than that, the Story City, Iowa, native came to wrestle for the Lopers.
“Wrestling and being on a team is in my blood,” he said.
That made suffering a career-ending injury, fracturing his L5 vertebra and undergoing surgery in 2017, very difficult. Witthuhn struggled with the loss of his ability to compete on the mat and suddenly having “way more time on my hands,” he said.
His UNK wrestling coaches suggested this was “an opportunity to push myself academically, and that I should throw myself into my schoolwork to see what I could accomplish,” Witthuhn said.
He explained his passion for learning spans many fields, but his interest is piqued most when studying history and political science.
“I love diving into topics and finding similarities to things going on in the world today or finding roots and causes of current events,” he said. “Finding obscure facts and being able to trace the fallout from those events all the way up to today — that’s super fun.”
Witthuhn sought guidance from his teacher and mentor, Jeff Wells, Ph.D., of the history department in UNK’s College of Arts & Sciences. Aware of Witthuhn’s passion for history, Jeff encouraged him to get involved in UNK’s undergraduate research program.
“I hadn’t considered my writing good enough for publication until then and never really considered doing research until Dr. Wells showed me all the opportunities,” Witthuhn said.
Undergraduate research is highly supported and encouraged at UNK, according to Charles Bicak, Ph.D., senior vice chancellor for academic and student affairs.
“We have a strong emphasis on students doing independent scholarly work,” he said. “It’s a distinguishing part of the UNK experience.”
Matthew Bice, Ph.D., director of undergraduate research and associate dean of graduate studies, echoed these comments, saying research projects are student-driven, allowing a project to capture the interest of the student.
“The undergraduate research experience provides transferable skills that transition into all aspects of life, making it a lifelong experience,” he said.
Under Bice’s direction, students present their research and scholarly work at UNK Undergraduate Student Research Day each spring. Wells and Bice both encouraged Witthuhn to consider a history-writing project to present.
Parker arrived at UNK with a love for competition. He was accustomed to winning as an athlete, but his injury deprived him of those opportunities. His participation in the Undergraduate Research Fellowship program allowed him to showcase his academic talents, and winning this award affirmed for him his potential to accomplish great things beyond sports.
- Jeff Wells, chair and associate professor of history, UNK
Bicak was walking through the UNK union one day when he began talking with UNK alumna Carolyn Snyder, Ph.D. He enthusiastically told her about the campus’s annual day of student research presentations, which piqued her interest.
“During my career as a professor and librarian, I wrote a number of articles and a book related to libraries,” she said. “As I progressed, it was important to do research and writing. That importance is still present as students pursue careers, but even more so in today’s world of shortened words, sentences and text messages.”
Already familiar with giving back to UNK – Snyder had established an endowed scholarship fund to benefit student library workers in honor of her mother, who also graduated from UNK — she decided to create the Wagner Family Writing Awards, which are given annually at the UNK Undergraduate Student Research Day, through a gift to the University of Nebraska Foundation.
“Naming the award after our Wagner family was very special to me” Snyder said. “My nephew Luke Wagner has joined me in the awarding of funds. I am so proud that it’s a family legacy that will continue through our scholarships and awards.”
The Wagner Family Writing Awards provide a total of $1,000 per year to students who place first, earning $750, and second, earning $250.
The award draws many applicants, “which sends a signal that students see the importance of research and writing,” Snyder said.
What started out as a project I was encouraged to do became a passion that I pursued with earnest.
- Parker Witthuhn
While he was still some time away from writing his paper for Undergraduate Student Research Day, Witthuhn had begun to get a feel for what he wanted to research.
“I have always found World War I fascinating,” he said. “2018 marked the 100-year anniversary of the end of WWI, and there hadn’t been much research done on the students and staff that served from Kearney State Normal School. I decided this would be a really great topic that was relevant.”
Witthuhn began research for “WWI: Soldiers of Kearney State Normal School” with the assistance of Laurinda Weisse, archivist and assistant professor at C.T. Ryan Library, who helped him unearth documents.
“There were war letters from the students who served, newspaper articles from the Antelope student newspaper and Kearney Hub during the war, and primary documents for the project,” Witthuhn said. “I’d already be deeply engrossed in an interesting war letter or article, and Ms. Weisse would come rushing in saying she found something else new that I should see.
“These documents, including mud- and blood-soaked letters, hadn’t been written about or analyzed fully yet, were so intriguing. I was hooked and loved doing the research in the archives.”
Witthuhn’s dream job is to be a historian and to teach and research at a university, in large part after working with Weisse in the UNK archives. Weisse says that’s the best part of her job.
“Discovering, seeing, reading and even feeling primary source documents — there’s a lot of power in that,” she said. “I love my opportunities to work with departments and students and make our history come alive.”
Weisse helped Witthuhn connect his life as a UNK student to those here 100 years ago. “Making connections for people through history helps tell their own story,” Weisse said.
Witthuhn explained how he grew emotionally, connecting to the Kearney Normal School soldiers and their stories.
“It’s hard to imagine that students my age were leaving our campus to go to war. One soldier in particular, Clarence Olsen, became very real to me,” he said. “Clarence’s brother, Henry, was also a student at Kearney Normal but was not sent to fight. Henry received many letters from Clarence while he fought in France during the final phase of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive.”
Witthuhn details in his research paper how Clarence Olsen, hours after penning a letter to Henry on Oct. 28, 1918, was hit by an exploding artillery shell and a gas grenade while going over his trench to advance toward the German line. The incident shattered Olsen’s legs, and the gas infected his wounds and caused partial paralysis in his arms.
“Clarence’s injuries caused both of his legs to be amputated in the field evacuation hospital before he was moved to Base Hospital No. 49,” Witthuhn said. “That hospital was actually nicknamed ‘Nebraska’s Hospital’ because it was created and staffed by members of the University of Nebraska’s Medical College at Omaha.
“The interesting and intriguing facts just kept coming. What started out as a project I was encouraged to do became a passion that I pursued with earnest.”
Witthuhn completed his research and paper, submitted his final copy for consideration for the Wagner Family Writing Awards, and then presented it last spring at UNK Undergraduate Student Research Day.
“It was an amazing opportunity and one that helped me grow incredibly as a researcher and writer,” he said. “While at the awards ceremony, the winners of the Wagner Family Writing Awards were being announced. I noted to myself how great that $250 second-place prize money would be. Little did I know my name would be announced as the winner of the award and a cash prize of $750.”
Snyder had the opportunity to read Witthuhn’s paper and was impressed.
“He had such a well-researched and captivating paper,” she said. “From utilizing the archives and library, to solid writing — it is what this award is all about.”
Witthuhn acknowledged that his experience opened his mind to his potential for creating scholarly writing and conducting research.
“The history department, the archivist, Carolyn Wagner Snyder — so many contributed to my growth and accomplishment,” he said.
And further, the award money paid for his books for the upcoming semester. “For that and more, I am really grateful,” Witthuhn said.
Witthuhn’s paper may be found at openspaces.unk.edu/undergraduate-research-journal/vol23/iss1/12/
As a student in the Sign Language Interpreting program at the University of Nebraska at Omaha, Reagan Folda understands the importance of a clear and
As a full-time social worker, Matthew Beckmann works every day to assist those who most need support. In the course of working on behalf of
“I think education is very important, and all of these young people need to have a career. That’s our future. The young people become educated and good citizens.”
The University of Nebraska Foundation (EIN: 47-0379839) is exempt from federal income tax under the provisions of Section 501(c)(3) of the Internal Revenue Code.