The University of Dallas Cor Fund provides scholarships to hundreds of UD students. Over the next several weeks, we will share some of their stories. Donations to the Cor Fund come from alumni, parents and friends of UD.
Maddie Ielmini, who will graduate from UD on Saturday, is a biochemistry major, but when asked what her favorite book from her UD education is, she responds with Dante Aligheris Divine Comedy.
I loved the detail, depth and meaning of the book; I couldnt stop reading it, said Ielmini.
She was drawn to UD by the opportunity to study the sciences in conjunction with the rest of the liberal arts.
I knew that the Core Curriculum would expand my scope of knowledge and make me more than just an academic, but a true independent thinker and well rounded person, she said.
Ielminis list of extracurricular activities is quite long: president of UDs chapter of the American Society for Microbiology, secretary of student members of the American Chemical Society, founding chemistry editor for UDs new undergraduate Journal of Science, vice president of the Italian Club and altar server coordinator for the Church of the Incarnation.
Keep in mind shes graduating in three years.
Ielmini, who has been an integral part of the student life and academic life during her time at UD, wouldnt be graduating on Saturday if not for the assistance of her scholarship, provided through UDs Cor Fund.
For me, the scholarship was a huge part of why I was able to come here. It allowed me to pursue the education I wanted. I wouldnt have been able to do that without the scholarship, said Ielmini.
Ielmini will spend next year attending EMT school and working as an EMT. She is currently applying to medical schools and plans to matriculate in the fall of 2016.
On Feb. 25 and 26, seven UD students traveled to Austin with Director of Undergraduate Admissions and Enrollment Michael Probus, BA '12 MBA '15, to advocate for continuing and/or increasing Tuition Equalization Grant (TEG) money.
+ Read MoreMike Kiegerl's youngest daughter, Christine, would have graduated from UD in the Class of 1994, but just before her graduation, she was struck by an impaired truck driver and died instantly. Kiegerl and his wife, Peggy, established the Christine S. Kiegerl Memorial Scholarship in their girl's memory in 1997.
+ Read MoreUD students not only read St. Augustine's "Confessions" in Rome, traveling to Ostia to marvel at the place in which, according to Book IX, St. Augustine and his mother, St. Monica, had a joint mystical vision of God — they also travel 4.4 miles from the Irving campus to read the text with residents of South Irving.
+ Read More
