Last Friday, Oct. 21 marked the final day of ‘National Student Transfer Week,’ during which the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse celebrated its’ 1,000-plus transfer students, and promoted resources such as the new mentorship program.

This year’s theme was ‘Plug Into Transfer.’ Throughout the week, Campus Connection published a student spotlight piece on various transfer students. International transfer student Spark Lim was one of the three featured students.

“When I was looking at different schools, I chose UWL because it’s more affordable, and it would help set me up for grad school,” said Lim, who transferred two years ago from the International College in Penang (INTI), located in Malaysia.

The senior transfer said he “really took the initiative to get involved,” and reached out to the Office of Multicultural Student Services (OMSS) before even arriving at UWL.

“I want[ed] to make sure I had the right resources to support myself,” said Lim, “because you know, coming here, I didn’t have any family or friends, everything was new to me. The advisors in OMSS really helped me along the way.”

Lim is now the Asian Student Organization (ASO) president. To read more about his story, click here.

Another advisor paving the way for transfer students is Transfer Student Advisor and Undeclared/Exploration Advisor Celinda Davis.

“I think it’s important to celebrate transfers whether they’re coming in or going out,” said Davis. “It’s a really courageous decision to transfer…and transfer students are becoming more and more the norm.”

“Both in the work of higher education, as well as just the experience itself, they’re still not talked about or reflected on,” said Davis on transfer students being overlooked and undervalued.

Last Thursday, Oct. 20, Davis helped others better “reflect” on the impact of UWL transfer students, leading the 2022 Annual Transfer Reception and Awards Ceremony, which took place in the Student Union. There were 19 nominations in over three categories of awards.

“In two of the categories we were actually able to give monetary prizes for the first time, which I was excited about. However, Transfer Athlete of the Year did not have a monetary prize, as that goes against NCAA rules,” said Davis

Transfer Athlete of the Year award celebrates a transfer athlete whose “talent, support, leadership, and sportsmanship,” continued Davis.

Congratulations to this year’s winners: Claire Cater (Transfer Athlete of the Year), Genevieve Church (Rising Transfer Star), and Ka Zang Lee and Ashley Nordby (Transfer Eagle[s] of the Year).

As previously mentioned, UWL also took National Student Transfer Week as an opportunity to promote the new, transfer peer mentorship program, led by students who have transferred to UWL from Western Technical College. Click the links to learn more.

“Every semester, the biggest share of transfer students comes from [Western Technical College],” Davis continued, saying there are roughly 40-45 students every semester who make the swap from Western Technical College.

“Students can transfer for a multitude of reasons; whether they took a break and are coming back to college later in life, or the school doesn’t really fit them, or maybe the school doesn’t offer what they need,” said Davis.

School of Education (SOE) student, Olivia Hinze, relates to the latter.

“So, I actually changed my major sophomore year, and I looked at a few schools that had communications and disorders for speech pathology, and Whitewater had that option,” said Hinze, who transferred in the fall of 2020 from the UW-Whitewater.

Less than a year later, Hinze returned to UWL after learning that she no longer needed this specific degree. “I was really excited to come back. I felt so welcome and at home.”

Hinze said that being a transfer student was “very eye-opening, but isolating,” adding that if it weren’t for her friends (who she knew prior to transferring) at Whitewater, it would have been an even harder transition.

“Thankfully, I was able to move in with some of my friends, so I didn’t feel as isolated, but I empathize with all the transfer students. It’s not something that everyone experiences, but just try to branch out and know that people are there for you,” said Hinze.

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Photo taken by Anna Fischer.