Wilbur and Elizabeth Winblad Endowed Scholarship

The Wilbur and Elizabeth Winblad Endowed Scholarship shows why scholarships remain the top priority for Be Brilliant. Be Bold. The Campaign for St. Thomas.

Every bold ambition for the University of St. Thomas begins in the same place: with talented students who have the opportunity to say yes.

Before students can gain professional experience, serve their communities or prepare to lead, they must be able to choose St. Thomas. For many families, that choice depends on scholarships.

That is why scholarships are the No. 1 priority of Be Brilliant. Be Bold. The Campaign for St. Thomas. Financial circumstances cannot stand between promising students and the education that can change the course of their lives.

A scholarship does more than open a door. It shapes what becomes possible after a student walks through it. By easing financial pressure, scholarships give students more room to immerse themselves in the St. Thomas experience. They can explore new interests, build meaningful relationships and practice what they are learning in real-world settings.

Ann Winblad ’75 understands that difference personally. Scholarships, loans and steady work helped finance her education. Her father, Wilbur, was a teacher and basketball coach who took on extra jobs while three of his six children were attending college at the same time. Her mother, Elizabeth, was a nurse.

Their goal, Winblad said, was to give their children the freedom to choose a life of opportunity.

More than 25 years ago, Winblad created the Wilbur and Elizabeth Winblad Endowed Scholarship in their honor. Focused primarily on students from middle-income families, the scholarship recognizes a challenge that is easy to overlook: Many families earn too much to qualify for need-based assistance yet cannot manage four years of tuition without significant loans.

Nearly 900 students have received the Winblad scholarship. Each has brought individual talents, interests and ambitions to St. Thomas. As a whole, they show how scholarship support can grow for generations.

Winblad has watched the St. Thomas experience evolve and grow. Compared to when the scholarship was founded, more students today can connect their studies across disciplines, test possible careers through internships and build networks of support that continue long after graduation.

“The depth of the academic experience and the width of the academic reach are much larger, and that gives students more choices and opportunities,” she said.

Those choices matter because Tommie undergraduates already contribute to organizations, workplaces and research. They apply their education to real needs through the professional networks of their St. Thomas professors, through internships and through courses that expect practical application of learning.

Endowed scholarships carry that impact forward year after year. Part of an endowment is invested, creating an enduring source of assistance for future students. In the case of the Winblad scholarship, one family’s belief in education has already helped hundreds of Tommies pursue their own paths. And hundreds – even thousands – more students in the future will carry on the legacy of Wilbur and Elizabeth Winblad.

It is also an expression of confidence in what St. Thomas and its students can accomplish.

“When you support a scholarship, you’re saying, ‘I believe in the mission of this institution,’” Winblad said.

Scholarships are part of the foundation for everything that follows at St. Thomas. Through Be Brilliant. Be Bold., St. Thomas will welcome more students ready to pursue their purpose and make a difference - in college, throughout their lives and across the communities they call home.