Mary Moechnig Leppala Scholarship

In October 2019 The Mary Moechnig Leppala Scholarship was established with the Winona State University Foundation. The scholarship will benefit and encourage students who are majoring in non-elementary Education.

Criteria

1. Undergraduate
2. Full or Part time
3. Declared Major: Education, preference in non-elementary education
4. Class Year: Sophomore or Junior
5. GPA of 3.0 or above

*Background and Motivation *
I was raised on a farm near Lake City, Minnesota in a large family of twelve children. My twin sister and I are numbers four and five. I helped on the farm and graduated from high school in 1962. Then, with a one hundred dollar scholarship from the Etta Hudson Scholarship Fund, I enrolled at WSU with a major in elementary education and a minor in library science, graduating in 1965. I taught two years in Fairmont, Minnesota. After moving to Rochester for a teaching position, I worked on a master’s degree in elementary education with an emphasis in remedial reading. My passion became reading; I am Orton-Gillingham trained and earned all the reading licenses offered by the state of Minnesota in 1998. I also completed special education license requirements. I have taught in Rochester Public Schools and at the Federal Medical Center and tutored students with the Reading Center and as my own business. Today I am retired and very busy with many interests.
So why endow a scholarship??? Education is the key to life – be it learning from experience, an apprenticeship, a classroom, or by oneself. If our democracy in the United States is to stay strong, education must be available to everyone K-12. From there, a person owns the choice for study. WSU is a highly rated, progressive institution with highly qualified students and staff. What better place for some extra dollars to help students realize their dreams or find a path to explore. I wake up each day to learn something new or to maintain skills; may others find the same joy each day.