Kayla Terpstra

Hometown:
Baldwin, Wisconsin

Major:
Consumer Affairs with a Certificate in Business

Before there was a Great People Scholarship, Stephen D. Morton ('54 BS, '62 PhD L&S) created his own need-based scholarship in the University of Wisconsin-Madison School of Human Ecology. While Morton's background is in chemistry, he created this fund in the School where his mother earned her bachelor's degree in 1928.

The most recent recipient of the Morton Need-Based Scholarship is Kayla (Kaiser) Terpstra ('10 BS SOHE). Terpstra's bachelor's degree in Consumer Affairs opened a number of doors to truly educational experiences. She was able to work part-time as an assistant to a financial advisor, where she learned financial advising is not for her, and she secured a six-month internship in marketing communications and social media, which she found much more enjoyable. Terpstra is in graduate school, majoring in consumer behavior and family economics in the School of Human Ecology.

Terpstra met Morton at a scholarship reception in 2010. "I think it's helpful for students to realize this money comes from a real person," Terpstra said. "The Morton scholarship was an amazing gift that I am very appreciative to have received. It was very exciting to see my hard work pay off and it was very encouraging. The scholarship also helped financially, of course, especially since I am on my own paying for my education and could not have made it through without the help of scholarships, grants, loans and work-study."