Fox Valley recruiting program pays off

UW–Madison alumnus Tim Higgins was tired of seeing bright and talented Hmong students near his home in Appleton choose schools other than his alma mater.

“These kids were some of the best the Fox Valley had to offer, but they were just deciding against Madison,” Higgins says.

So two years ago, the 1977 graduate, along with his wife Jonna Higgins and the UW Club of the Fox Valley, began taking 30 to 40 kids and their parents to Madison each semester to show them what the university has to offer.

One of those students was Mao Moua, now an 18-year-old graduate of Appleton North High School, who plans to study elementary education at UW–Madison this fall.

Moua says the campus tour was tailored to the concerns of Hmong students, highlighting programs and resources geared toward minorities.

“It not only felt like a great school, it felt like a school where diversity is important to people,” Moua says. “You can see that there are people there from all over the world. So, you don’t feel like a minority.”

Along with Moua, three other Hmong students are enrolling this fall after participating in the program. Pao Houa Vang from Appleton East High School, Chue Lee from Menasha High School and another Chue Lee from Oshkosh North High School will soon move to Madison.

“In the past, only a few Hmong kids from the Fox Valley had decided to attend UW–Madison,” Higgins says. “This year, there will be four, and all of them went through this program.”

During the campus tour, the Office of Admissions provides the students with an orientation program in which they learn about academic support specifically for Southeast Asian students. In addition, they tour the campus and are treated to a campus cultural activity.

Recruiting Hmong students from the Appleton area has always been a challenge, says Cleveland James, associate director of admissions and coordinator of undergraduate minority recruitment programs at UW–Madison.

“Historically, Southeast Asian students were attending other comprehensive UW System institutions, but UW–Madison was not one of their first choices,” he says.

The program costs the UW–Madison Alumni Club of the Fox Valley about $1,750 each semester, most of which is donated by Fox Valley companies with large numbers of Hmong employees.

“This really shows a commitment by members of the university community, wherever they live, to find innovative ways to improve diversity on this campus,” James says. “Hopefully, other alumni clubs around the state and country will see the success of the Fox Valley program and consider similar efforts in their areas.”

The effort not only helps UW–Madison to increase diversity, it also makes a few incoming freshman feel more comfortable about moving to a new place.

“I just felt better coming here, once I knew what to expect,” Moua says.