University Communications and Marketing

​Future doctor begins journey at UW-Stevens Point

Delaney Harris plans to be a doctor. An anesthesiologist, to be exact. She knows where she wants to pursue her medical degree and her medical specialty. She knows it’s a long journey, and she’s glad she started it at UW-Stevens Point.

“College is definitely a big investment, especially the graduate programs. I have 12 years ahead of me,” Harris said.

She is among more than 600 first-year students to receive $1,000 merit scholarships to attend UW-Stevens Point. “That amount of money really helps. It gives me the ability to focus on school,” she said.

The Wisconsin Rapids-Lincoln graduate knows all about hard work. She grew up on a dairy farm near Rudolph and begins her day at 5 a.m., milking cows before heading to Stevens Point for class.

Working with farm animals, she realized she liked care giving. A program at her high school allowed students to explore health care fields and become certified nursing assistants or emergency medical technicians at Mid-State Technical College. Harris shadowed several health professionals, including an anesthesiologist and decided this was for her. She hopes to participate in Lexington Surgery Center’s program “Surgery on Sunday.”

Harris had her first taste of UW-Stevens Point in sixth grade when she was selected to participate in College Day for Kids. Her grandmother worked at UW-Stevens Point for more than 40 years.

“I definitely enjoy it. All my professors are really nice. I like the class size. It’s smaller, and there’s one-on-one time with faculty,” she said.

Harris is the first in her family to attend college. That brings both pressure and support ⎼ and many unknowns. “It is a daunting task. There’s pressure to do well. I also get encouragement from a lot of people."

A biochemistry major, she is paying education expenses mostly on her own. She lives at home and works 12 to 30 hours a week at Fleet Farm in Stevens Point. “It helps that I don’t have to pay for room and board.”  

Harris offers this advice to other students: “If you have a long road ahead, balance your time between now and the future. Focus on what you need to do now, and take one step at a time.”

The first-year merit scholarships are among 57 new scholarships created at UW-Stevens Point since 2013 and are an important way UW-Stevens Point is helping students meet the investment in college.

Harris is among 48 percent of UW-Stevens Point students who are the first in their families to go to college. “They come from hard-working, down-to-earth families. They know the value of a dollar, most of them working one, two or even three part-time jobs so they can stay in school,” said Chancellor Bernie Patterson. “So when I hear one of our scholarship recipients say to a good friend of the university, ‘I would not be here had it not been for the scholarship you started at UW-Stevens Point,’ I know they are speaking from the heart.”