As a Reisher Scholar and peer advocate for fellow Reisher scholars, Emma Rubel is a bright and engaging light on the UCCS campus. But if you ask Emma, she’ll say she’s shy and introverted, preferring to spend her time at home.
She credits the Reisher scholarship program for the warm and welcoming personality she has grown into in her three years at UCCS.
“Reisher has helped me find a community and now I have a job working with them, so it gives me more outreach and I’m able to network with people more easily,” Emma said.
The Reisher Scholars Program gives students the financial means to complete their undergraduate degree, with support from the program starting midway through college. The Reisher family established the Reisher scholarship program at The Denver Foundation in 2001.
Emma had several other UCCS scholarships her freshman year to cover tuition and books. With the support from scholarships, she will earn her degree and graduate without student loan debt.
“Scholarships have helped a lot because I’m a needs-based student. I’ve watched my mom have to pay off student loans, and she’s still paying them off,” she said. “It’s one less thing that I will have to worry about.”
Emma is a junior in the healthcare sciences program on the medical laboratory science track. She hopes to eventually become a phlebotomist and work in the clinical side of the industry. While she has always been interested in medicine, she said she didn’t know about laboratory science until arriving at UCCS.
The university has also helped her find partnerships and pathways to engage in the medical world through volunteering as part of the pre-health society. The group partners with students from the CU Anschutz medical campus in Denver.
“They provide a foot clinic the Springs Rescue Mission in Colorado Springs where we clean the feet of people experiencing homelessness. We have podiatrists come in because the people at the shelter are sometimes malnourished and or suffering from diabetes, and you can tell with their feet,” she said. “It’s amazing being able to hear their stories. It also helps me get closer to starting patient care on a smaller level because they pair you with a medical student.”
Emma’s desire to offer support and care for others doesn’t end there. She said one of the highlights of her university experience so far has been calling Reisher Scholarship applicants to tell them they were selected for the scholarship.
“As a Reisher peer advocate, I got to call some of the people we were awarding the scholarship to and you can hear the excitement in their voice,” she said. “I also help plan events to help everyone get together and network. There have been so many different opportunities for people just because they knew someone in the program.”
Emma said she hopes to, one day, be able to extend the generosity of the aid she has received.
“It means so much just knowing you can keep going and work toward so many future opportunities,” she said. “I hope I can help donate at some point because even a little bit helps a lot.”