The Habeck Family Scholarship
Roy and Phyllis Habeck
Ever since their days at what was then Wisconsin State College-Stevens Point, Roy and Phyllis Habeck of Shawano, Wisconsin have been committed to education. After completing a two-year teaching training course called Rural Education in 1953 (“taught by a wonderful lady name Mae Roach,” Roy adds), the couple married and embarked on a lifelong career in teaching and education administration. Phyllis ended her career as a counselor with Northeast Wisconsin Technical College in Green Bay, and Roy retired from Superintendent of Schools in Woodstock, Illinois.
Retired for the past 15 years, the Habecks were not content to sit idly by while there were goals to be accomplished. One recent goal was to start what Roy labels “a legacy of support for education.” They are now in their fourth year of a five-year commitment to fund the Habeck Family Scholarship, which was established to assist potential elementary and secondary students with their education expenses. “This action, along with our commitment to plant 100 trees to replace the one tree we cut down each year at Christmas, will be a legacy that will live on after we depart this earth,” Roy explains. “I think of this scholarship as a living gravestone, as it will be around after we’re gone.” The beauty of their scholarship is that they are seeing its immediate benefits by meeting with students who are the recipients. The Habecks have already met two of the scholarship winners. “We make it clear to them that they don’t owe us anything,” Roy says. “We only ask that if they can, we’d be happy to hear from them. And we already did hear from one of the winners, who sent us a nice note from her semester program in Australia.
“The School of Education people do a super job of selecting the candidates,” he adds. “They’ve all been top-notch, and Phyllis and I have been very impressed with all the candidates.”
The Habecks say their two children also feel a close connection to UWSP. Their son James, a UWSP alum and Marquette University graduate, was elected as a circuit court judge in Shawano and his wife Penny is also a UWSP grad. James is a member of the “Back Court Club” and is close friends with Pointer Men’s Basketball Coach Jack Bennett. The Habeck’s daughter Jean is a graduate of Colorado State University. She lives in Denver and is an artist specializing in painting custom tiles for customers who want unique murals in their homes.
Faces may have changed at the University since the Habecks graduated in 1953, but they say the friendliness has remained. “We are thankful for the many opportunities we were given because of the education we received. We simply want to encourage younger generations of prospective teachers to continue giving the youth of today a very high quality of education.”