PHOTO: Courtesy of WLUK
OSHKOSH, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) — Non-profit organizations in Oshkosh are increasingly being led by University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh graduates.
Alicia Wenger is the executive director at Christine Ann Domestic Abuse Services. She graduated from UWO in 2016 and said the university helped shape her interest in non-profit work.
“As a Human Services grad, there were three different internships that I had to do,” she explained. “And so, that was required as part of the major. Christine Ann was one of the spots to be able to do that.”
17 of the 26 total staff members at Christine Ann are UWO graduates — but that’s not the only non-profit that has Titans in leadership roles.
Day by Day Warming Shelter’s Executive Director Molly Yatso-Butz graduated from UW-Oshkosh 30 years ago.
“It’s great to have UWO right in our backyard. We certainly utilize students,” she said. “We have student interns beginning now in the next few weeks, we have nursing students who are on staff here. And then of course, our graduates who work here full time.”
Yatso-Butz told says the amount of graduates from UWO who work at non-profits tells a great story.
I think that it’s really neat when you can graduate from a local university and have those opportunities here to grow professionally.
Jaime Page-Stabler, director at the UW-Oshkosh Career and Professional Development Center, said it’s more than just the proximity that draws students to non-profit work. She said they feel connected to the community on a deeper level.
“I would say the reason why our students go and work for social assistance or non-profit organizations is because they get that immediate reward, and that’s what feeds them to keep doing the work that they do every day,” she said.
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