How donations to the IU Northwest General Scholarship Fund changes students’ lives
While it only takes place once a year, IU Day’s impact on our students lasts a lifetime.
With all the festivities planned for students, faculty, staff and alumni, along with the unforgettable memories from years past, Indiana University Northwest is stretching the 2024 IU Day into IU Day(s) on April 17-18.
It will be two days of wearing your IU gear, sharing your school pride and celebrating with everyone on campus. But it will also be two days where, together, we’ll rally behind the IU Northwest General Scholarship Fund, which provides our students with academic scholarship support.
In the last three years, this fund has helped nearly 30 students receive financial assistance with individual annual scholarships ranging from $500 to $4,500. Since 2021, the fund has dispersed more than $25,000 to assist IU Northwest students.
Whether a donation to the IU Northwest General Scholarship Fund is $5, $50, or even $5,000, it all adds up — helping our students to see their dreams through.
But, don’t take our word for it. Listen to the students who’ve been directly impacted through the help of the IU Northwest General Scholarship Fund.
How the General Scholarship Fund allowed Max to pursue his love for theater
Coming out of high school, Max McLean went to trade school. After a year, he didn’t see the trades as a long-term option.
McLean loved theater since high school. He was hooked by the camaraderie and family-like atmosphere it presented – the emotions the audience experienced during a play. Looking for that, the Griffith native enrolled at IU Northwest.
Paying for school himself while balancing theater productions, classes and part-time jobs in a restaurant and as a delivery driver wasn’t easy, but the IU Northwest General Scholarship Fund helped McLean accomplish more than would’ve otherwise been possible.
Thanks to a $1,250 IU Northwest General Scholarship, McLean was able to quit his part-time job and begin taking theater jobs in Chicago. While he wants to get into the design side of theater, he’s been working as a freelance technical director and carpenter and enjoying every second of it.
“Thank you,” McLean said to donors. “I know the people that donate often go unnoticed, but you’re truly helping people follow their dreams and making their dreams into a reality.”
He added: “I would never be able to do anything that I do without the help of the people that donate.”
Already helping at his former high school, McLean said he hopes to be in the position to one day help someone else follow their dreams.
Madison’s worry was finding — not funding — her passion, thanks to the IU Northwest General Scholarship Fund
A Hammond native, Madison Dugan spent her first year of college nine hours away in Cleveland, Tennessee.
Being that far away from her family and loved ones, Dugan knew she wanted to be closer to home. She applied to several schools in Northwest Indiana and decided to choose IU Northwest because of its proximity and affordability.
Coming in, Dugan wanted to be a psychiatric nurse practitioner (NP) but didn’t realize becoming a registered nurse (RN) was the first step in that. As a high schooler, Dugan didn’t want to do bedside nursing, instead wanting to get “through the program” and become a nurse practitioner.
Looking back, Dugan realized how much IU Northwest has helped her grow. Her knowledge in medicine has expanded and she’s realized bedside nursing is something she truly enjoys – helping people who don’t even realize they’re being helped.
While Dugan still wants to become a nurse practitioner, IU Northwest helped her realize she wants to do so with a focus on critical care.
Thanks to a transfer scholarship and the $1,500 she received from the IU Northwest General Scholarship Fund, finding her passion — not funding her education — was what Dugan was worried about.
“It means so much more to me than you may think,” Dugan said to donors. “You are the reason I was able to make it through these four years at IUN and I greatly appreciate it!”
As Dugan prepares to graduate with her bachelor’s in nursing, she’s excited to one day get the opportunity to donate and help future generations of students pursue their passion.
