UWSP grad found home in Stevens Point

STEVENS POINT - Kelsey Haelfrisch found her direction on a 10-day trip to South Dakota.

The 22-year-old University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point senior was unsure of her major or her future plans when she approached Professor Susan Turgeson about a 2014 trip to South Dakota to volunteer on the LaPlant Reservation that she was leading. The trip is a diversity-immersion, service-learning trip for students to apply their coursework and interact with the community. Haelfrisch, a Brillion native, had not settled on a major.

But during the trip, while helping build a community garden on the reservation to provide a local food source, Haelfrisch had the chance to meet students in the family and consumer sciences program and came to an important determination.

"It helped me decide that I really love helping people, and that I didn't have to know the people to help them," she said.

Haelfrisch is one of 704 students earning a degree at the end of this semester, which will by celebrated at Saturday's winter commencement ceremony. She will leave with a degree in family and consumer sciences and a minor in business administration, but her Stevens Point journey is not yet over.

After her 3 ½-year  journey is complete at UWSP, Haelfrisch has decided to stay in the Stevens Point community to help local high school students forge their post-diploma plans.

What started as an internship at Stevens Point Area Senior High turned into a full-time job and inspiration for a career. As an administrative assistant in the career center, Haelfrisch works with students to provide social and academic support to students. She helps them with college applications, résumé writing, job hunts and obtaining work permits.

"I love the people I work with," she said. "I just really like working with high schoolers and seeing them prepare and plan their future. It's just really rewarding at the end of each day."

She found the opportunity from the same professor who helped her find the best-fit major for her. Turgeson, who led the trip to South Dakota, was also the professor who nominated Haelfrisch for the Chancellor's Leadership Award. She'll be recognized Friday for the honor.

"From the time that I met Kelsey and got to work with her, she was one of those people who just really took to the guidance and advice and pretty much did all the things that we suggested," Turgeson said. "She just put her whole heart into everything she did and was able to take so much from everything . ... She embraced every opportunity presented to her."

Haelfrisch said she plans to stay in the city while working toward a graduate degree so she can become a high school counselor.

"I really love Stevens Point," she said. "I feel like everything I need is right here. I feel like it really is my home away from home."

Sari Lesk can be reached at 715-345-2257 and sari.lesk@gannettwisconsin.com. Follow her on Twitter as @Sari_Lesk.

Total Graduates: 704     

Male: 355    

Female: 349   

Oldest: 47

Youngest: 21

Degrees conferred

Associate graduates: 5       

Bachelor graduates: 679     

Master graduates: 20       

Graduates by college

Fine Arts and Communication: 72    

Letters and Science: 217     

Natural Resources: 161      

Professional Studies: 220

Transfer Graduates 275

Source: University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point