As she starts her final semester at UW-Milwaukee this fall, public health major Alana Fisher has been reflecting on what has made her time on campus successful.
As a commuter, she rode the bus to campus from her home on Milwaukee’s North Side, a ride that took nearly an hour each way. If she had a class in the morning and one in the late afternoon, she needed ways to stay busy in the hours between.
“I had to figure out, ‘What am I going to do while I am here?’” said Fisher, a graduate of Rufus King International High School. “I would always look for events that included food, but I would also ask, ‘What sounds fun? And what am I interested in learning?’”
One day, she wandered into the Women’s Resource Center for an event, started chatting with staff and students there, and was soon hired as the center’s content creator.
Another time, she spotted posters on campus advertising undergraduate research opportunities and ended up joining a gerontology-focused program known as Success Through Aging Research. She wasn’t sure research would be a good fit for her, but she has loved working on an intervention for immigrants with dementia and their caregivers. Last year, she joined more than 30 UWM students who attended a national conference for undergraduate researchers in Richmond, Va.
Fisher also said yes to being a summer orientation leader, helping incoming freshmen get to know campus. “I was interacting with lots of people,” she said, which built her confidence and leadership skills. In the process, she met the supervisor of UWM’s Future Alumni Network ambassadors, who encouraged her to apply for that program. Getting that job allowed her to help campus fundraising efforts.
Staff at UWM’s Center for Student Experience and Talent encouraged her to apply for a Diversity in Conservation internship through the Natural Resources Foundation of Wisconsin, which sparked her interest in environmental work. It also led to a summer job as a beach ambassador, educating people about beach conditions and water safety at Bradford and McKinley beaches. “I love talking to people and getting that information out there,” she said.
Central to her success, Fisher said, is making time to get know people at UWM, including students and staff at the Student Success Center, the Black Student Cultural Center, the Women’s Resource Center, the Office of Undergraduate Research and the Zilber College of Public Health.
“The more I’ve talked to people, the more people knew my name and face and started referring me to things that they thought might be good opportunities,” she said. “It just kind of snowballed.”
This team of supporters was especially helpful in tough times, including the sudden, traumatic death of her best friend, which happened around the time she lost her aunt and Victoria Pryor, the much-loved program manager at the Black Student Cultural Center. Her supporters helped her cope and stay on track academically.
As she prepares to graduate in December, Fisher is still deciding if she’ll apply for graduate school or a full-time job.She urges current students to take advantage of the many resources available on campus, which are often free.
“I don’t think any other university could have given me this rich of an experience,” she said. “All of the things that I needed were here. I had all these opportunities and built this team of people who know me and have helped propel me forward.”
