Students Speak: Mike and Laura

Mike Zimmerman –  Mechanical Engineering

Mike Zimmerman is a senior from Coon Rapids, Minn., who is majoring in mechanical engineering and minoring in mathematics. He has always liked science and chose engineering as the course of study that best fits with his interests. After graduation, he hopes to attend graduate school and someday to work as a design engineer in the automotive industry.

Mike is an active member of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers and of Engineers for a SustainableWorld. As part of a work-study program, he helped to design and build several solar-powered water purifiers that were sent to Tanzania. The project harnesses abundant solar radiation near the equator to sanitize well water near schools to help prevent the spread of disease. Mike hopes to continue that work, and perhaps even to travel to Africa to see how his efforts have benefited the community that received the purifiers.

He said that it feels good to work on something tangible that is helping people, and he credits that opportunity to the scholarship that he received. It is what makes it possible to be at St. Thomas, he said. Without it, he believes that he would be “at a big public school in a
lecture hall with 500 other students.” Mike values the hands-on learning that takes place at St. Thomas and the one-on-one time that professors offer.

Last year, he worked as an intern atHoffmann Enclosures in Anoka, including working full-time over the summer to help pay his school costs. Referring to his scholarship, he wrote in a letter to a donor, “It has opened many doors for me, and I am so thankful that I can be a
part of this academic community.”

“Thank you for the opportunity to attend this great school and pave myself a bright path for the future.”

Laura Janas – Catholic Studies, English

Paying for college is a daunting proposition for most students. So when junior Laura Janas, a National Merit Scholar, passed up half a dozen full scholarship offers from other schools to attend St. Thomas, she didn’t do it lightly.

To earn money for tuition, room, board and other school expenses, Laura has worked babysitting two children who have cystic fibrosis and doing accounting work for their mother, who has a home accounting business. During the summers, she works full-time at a golf course near her house.  “Although I was offered full scholarships to several larger universities, I chose St. Thomas and am 100-percent sure that Imade the right decision,” said Laura.

Major factors in her decision were St. Thomas’ Catholic Studies program and successful women’s track program. “St. Thomas has given me the opportunity to stay involved in athletics while receiving a great education,” she said.  Laura is double-majoring in Catholic Studies and English, with the hope of developing a writing career, perhaps in a Catholic vein.Writing for “The Signature,” the student newsletter of the Catholic Studies Department, is giving her good practice.

Most of her extracurricular time is taken up by running on the women’s track team. She is a sprinter and a hurdler, last spring becoming theMinnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion in the 100-meter outdoor hurdles and 55-meter indoor hurdles. “I am so glad that I was able to come to a school where I could run track and still make getting a quality education my first priority,” Laura wrote to the donors of a scholarship that she received. “The Catholic Studies program at St. Thomas was the main pull that led me to attend school here and has turned out to be everything that I had hoped it would be. I do not believe that I could find a better program anywhere in the country.”

“St. Thomas has opened many doors for me … . I know that my degrees in Catholic Studies and English will give me the resources I need to have a successful career.”