Students Speak: Will & Lindsey

William Johnson – Mechanical Engineering

William Johnson, a junior, has five biological brothers and sisters, three stepsisters, one half brother, and five adopted brothers and sisters. He is the second-oldest of his family’s 15 children, and he does not take the role lightly. 

"When I’m feeling unmotivated and I don’t want to do homework," said the St. Paul native, "I think of my family. I know my siblings look up to me, and I want to set the tone for going to college and doing well."

Will’s parents ran a day-care business when he was younger and cared for foster children in their home. Eventually they began adopting. His parents are divorced now, but his mother also has guardianship over a boy whose mother could not care for him.

This goodwill rubbed off on Will, who is pursuing civil engineering because of his desire to give back to his community. He wants to be involved with urban redevelopment and establishing safe havens for kids, much like the neighborhood recreation center where he spent many afternoons as a child.

Will admits that he applied to St. Thomas only because of the free application; he wanted to attend college out-of-state. After receiving generous scholarship offers from St. Thomas, however, he knew that he could not pass up this opportunity. His program allows him to earn a B.A. degree in engineering in just three years, then to transfer to a school offering a two-year degree in civil engineering.

Will has played on the varsity football team and has participated in Multicultural Student Services activities, and has coached football for the past two years at his former high school. To augment his scholarship aid, he held internships for three summers at the Federal Reserve Bank and this year is working at a grocery store on weekends.

"Scholarships help me continue my dream to go to school and to be an athlete, but more importantly, to lead the way for the many others to follow. It is important to me that there be leaders for the community, from the community."

Lindsey Loree – Japanese

Lindsey Loree, a sophomore, admits that majoring in Japanese is a little "crazy," but says that her parents never hesitated to support her choice. 

"Not a lot of parents would support their child going to such an expensive school to do such a crazy thing like Japanese major," she says.

Lindsey became interested in Japanese culture at age 15 after watching the Japanese show "Sailor Moon," and next fall, she will leave for a nine-month stint studying in Japan and living with a Japanese family. Her goal is to become an English as a Second Language teacher, a career that does not provide the most lucrative salary, which makes her all the more grateful for the scholarships that she has received.

As the daughter of a military father, Lindsey grew up in four states and Panama; her family now lives in Cloquet, Minn. She says that her parents worked hard to provide for their family, but arranged it so that one of them always would be home with Lindsey and her two younger brothers, even if it sometimes meant one parent working days and one working nights.

In addition to her Japanese classes, Lindsey is the president of the Japanese Club on campus, and she loves being part of the Aquinas Scholars, St. Thomas’ undergraduate honors program. She enjoys the classes because of their small size and in-depth discussions. "Everyone shows up way too early because we are all nerdy!" she said.

To help pay for school, Lindsey works on campus about 20 hours a week, between the Music Resource Center and the O’Shaughnessy-Frey Library. She enjoys the flexibility of these jobs and the opportunity to work on homework during downtime. In the summer, she works as a housekeeper to earn extra money.

Lindsey is grateful for the scholarship aid that she has been awarded. In a thank-you letter to a donor, she said, "Rest assured your kind donations are being put to good use and I will be forever grateful."