Joan Wuischpard served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic from 1990 to 1992 and worked with women prostitutes who had been diagnosed as HIV-positive
Joan Wuischpard served in the Peace Corps in the Dominican Republic from 1990 to 1992 and worked with women prostitutes who had been diagnosed as HIV-positive
The Sun Sunnyvale's Newspaper
Photograph by Robert Scheer
De Anza student Joan Wuischpard, who went back to school at age 55, recently won a $20,000 scholarship to UCSC.
Commencement
Sunnyvale's Joan Wuischpard helps others get ahead
By Janice D. Winkel
In 1994, when Joan Wuischpard of Sunnyvale reached age 55, she wasn't contemplating a leisurely retirement surrounded by possessions and memories. She envisioned a life of purpose for herself--more specifically, helping people who have greater needs than her own.
Much more than a dreamer, she knew her first pragmatic step was to obtain a higher education. With hardly more than a high school diploma, she enrolled at De Anza College to pursue her dream of a professional career in public service. She had already experienced personal satisfaction and success as a Peace Corps volunteer in a small-business program in the Dominican Republic.
Three years later, Wuischpard is now closer to her dream. On June 27, she'll receive her second associate degree at De Anza's commencement ceremony.
Wuischpard has earned a 3.8 grade-point average and will graduate magna cum laude. In addition, she has received one of the largest awards ever given to a De Anza graduate, the 1997 UC-Santa Cruz Leadership Opportunity Award. It will provide her with a $20,000 scholarship to UCSC to cover the cost of tuition, books and housing. The award offers individually tailored mentoring and support and paid summer work experience. She plans to attend UCSC in the fall and major in sociology.
"The award is a gift from the gods, and I'm so incredibly grateful," Wuischpard said. "Now I can do what I want with my life, whether it's working in a Third World country to empower women or working in this country as an advocate in the school system for the children of migrant farmworkers."
Wuischpard said that when she was a jewelry-sales representative for a five-state territory, her success on the job was "making rich people become richer." But a turning point came when her best friend died of AIDS.
"As he was dying and I was caring for him, I decided to do something in his memory. Volunteering seemed to be a fitting memorial," she said. "Even though I didn't have a college education, I was able to join the Peace Corps."
Previously, she had been an active volunteer in such organizations as the local Veterans Administration Hospital, where she fed paralyzed patients, in children's activities such as the Cub Scouts and at her church, where she had been the first woman deacon.
"In the Peace Corps, I served in the Dominican Republic from 1990 to 1992 and worked with women prostitutes who had been diagnosed as HIV-positive," she said. "I organized a jewelry-making business using the amber that was indigenous to the island. The business got the women off the streets, provided an income for them and their families and ultimately increased their self-esteem and confidence."
Moveover, as her Spanish improved in the Dominican Republic, she began a little school for street children too poor to go to regular school.
She provided them with very basic education, as well as tips on how to become better tour guides so they could continue to help support their families.
Wuischpard's own life has not been particularly easy. Fifteen years ago she left an unhappy marriage on the East Coast when her two oldest children, Tracy and Matthew, were already grown and her youngest child, Marc, was 16 years old. With only a car, her clothes and very little money, she headed across the country to establish a new life. She quickly found a job in California, then sent for Marc to join her.
Even now, she owns few things. "When I start at UCSC, I will give my car to Matthew because I'll be living on campus," she said. "As a result of my success in school, he's decided to return to college, even though he's 35 and has a job as a graphic artist. I want to help him, and that's all I have to give him."
The award that Wuischpard received provides scholarship support for transfer-eligible community college students who have shown exceptional achievement through academic and extracurricular accomplishments despite adverse socioeconomic conditions, who have demonstrated an involvement in activities that assist and improve the lives of others and who would not otherwise be able to attend UCSC because of financial need. The Leadership Opportunity Award was first presented in 1993.
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This article appeared in the Sunnyvale Sun, June 25, 1997. ©1997 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.
