To the Editor: “You’re just the kind of student we’re looking for.”

DEAR EDITOR,

In 1968 I was a senior at Proviso East High School in Maywood, planning to attend teacher’s college because it was free and because I planned to become a teacher. The late Ralph Meinking, a Roosevelt University administrator, visited my school. He requested to interview me and I agreed. I had never heard of Roosevelt University at that time. Mr. Meinking made the University sound very appealing. When I told him I had no funds for tuition, I’ll never forget his words: “I think we can help you there…you’re just the kind of student we’re looking for.”

To this day I’m not entirely sure what he meant by that! However, I hope that in the intervening 54 years, I have proven to be “just the kind of student he was looking for.” In short, with the aid of a full-tuition merit scholarship from the University, I graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Early Childhood Education in three-and-a-half years. Shortly after that, while teaching in the Chicago Public Schools, and with the aid of a full-tuition grant from the University, I earned a Master of Arts in Early Childhood Education.

Life intervened, and my husband and I relocated “temporarily” to Atlanta, where we raised our family and where I ultimately earned two law degrees (Georgia State University School of Law and Emory University School of Law) and practiced law for over 30 years. I am now retired from practice (a “recovering attorney”), an active grandma and a board member of a non-profit which assists our public health department. My collection of “tchotchkes” includes several that I purchased as gifts for my late mom from “The Scholarshop” in the ’70s.

I am grateful. I believe that Mr. Meinking would be pleased with the return on “his” investment in me. Please accept the enclosed donation in honor of Ralph.

Sincerely yours,
Judith Aronow Levinson, BA ’72, MA ’74