International Operating Engineer - Summer 2015

IUOE Member, Family Members
Awarded Union Plus Scholarships
Winners Honored for Achievement and Union Values
Union Plus recently awarded $150,000 in scholarships to
106 students representing 36 unions, including 10 winners
representing the International Union of Operating Engineers,
in the 2015 Union Plus Scholarship Program.
In this 24th year of the program, more than 5,000 applications
were received from union members, their spouses and their
dependent children in all 50 states, Puerto Rico and the U.S.
Virgin Islands.
Union Plus Scholarship awards are granted to students
attending a two-year college, four-year college, graduate
school or a recognized technical or trade school.
Since starting the program in 1991, Union Plus has awarded
more than $3.7 million in educational funding to more than
2,500 union members, spouses and dependent children.
Recipients are selected based on academic ability, social
awareness, financial need and appreciation of labor.
Visit UnionPlus.org/Education for applications and benefit
eligibility.
Meet the 2015 IUOE Honorees
IUOE Local 324—Alozie Asika
Alozie, who is a member of IUOE Local 324, has been awarded
a $500 scholarship. Alozie is a nursing major at Jackson
Community College. A nontraditional
student, he graduated
from Federal Government High
School in Port Harcourt, Nigeria,
in 1986. After being let go from his
banking job in 2010, Alozie chose
to pursue a new career in nursing.
“My attraction to nursing stems
from the fact that I will be able to
give back to society and make a
difference in the lives of people in
my immediate community and the world in general,” Alozie
said. He currently works as a certified nursing assistant and
said his union membership provides a sense of protection
and security for himself and his family.
IUOE Local 513—Alexandria Berghaus
Alexandria, whose father, Timothy Berghaus, is a member
of IUOE Local 513, has been awarded a $4,000 scholarship.
Alexandria is a plant sciences
major at the University of Missouri.
After her expected graduation date
of May 2016, she hopes to pursue
a master’s in plant genetics. She
worked as a farmhand in high
school to help pay for her own
college education; her goal is to
graduate without student loans,
and she plans to pursue a paid internship this summer.
Alexandria said health care has been a critical union benefit
to her family, particularly when her mother was diagnosed
with breast cancer. “Without the insurance coverage the
union provides, it would have been nearly impossible for us
to make it through that difficult time,” she said.
IUOE Local 520—Lainey Brown
Lainey, whose mother, Katherine Brown, is a member of
IUOE Local 520, has been awarded a $500 scholarship. Lainey
is a 2015 high school graduate who
plans to begin pursuing a nursing
degree at Southwestern Illinois
College in the fall. Lainey said her
connection with the union started
with her birth date, when her
mother went into labor during a
Labor Day union parade. She said
she and her mother might not be
where they are today without the
union and the labor movement. “I
am eternally grateful for the work she has been given and the
woman the union has made her … strong and hardworking,”
Lainey said.
IUOE Local 399—Sarah Dynia
Sarah, whose mother, Laura Dynia, is a member of IUOE
Local 399, has been awarded a $4,000 scholarship. Sarah is
a 2015 high school graduate who plans to study biology and
pursue a career as a scientist or medical doctor. She is founder
and CEO of Stuffed Love, a volunteer-staffed program that
provides hand-stitched pillows
through a variety of nonprofits to
those in need of encouragement.
By completing 10 AP classes in high
school, Sarah earned college credit
that helped defray her college
costs. She said her mother’s union
membership has greatly helped
her family, in particular with wages
that have made it possible for Sarah
to attend the private schools that
have shaped her socially, academically and spiritually.
IUOE Local 49—Rien Groskopf
Rien, whose father, Brian Groskopf, is a member of IUOE
Local 49, has been awarded a $1,000 scholarship. Rien is a
pre-medicine major at the University of Wisconsin-Barron
County who expects to graduate in May 2018. She aspires
to be an orthopedic surgeon or a physical therapist; having
broken her foot twice in the course of her athletic career, she
hopes to focus on sports medicine to help people lead full and
active lives. Rien was valedictorian of her high school class in
2014. She said she has seen the benefits of her father’s union
membership, specifically access to good health insurance,
as well as consistent and fair wages that have led to a better
quality of life for her family. “Knowing that he is supported by
his union for what he has given them all these years makes a
person feel good inside,” Rien said.
IUOE Local 18—Hannah Jarvis
Hannah, whose father, Richard Jarvis, is a member of IUOE
Local 18, has been awarded a $2,000 scholarship. Hannah
is a 2015 high school graduate who plans to study animal
sciences and agricultural communication at The Ohio State
University. Hannah said she appreciates her father’s union for
providing quality benefits and a safe working environment.
“Now that I am older, I understand the union’s importance
and valuable role in making sure that my father returned
home safe and sound every day,” she said. “I know that my
father and thousands of other people are being kept in safe
working conditions.”
IUOE Local 501—
Samantha Schroff
Samantha, whose father, Robert
Schroff, is a member of IUOE Local
501, has been awarded a $1,000
scholarship. Samantha, whose
grandfather also was an IUOE
member, is a 2015 high school
graduate who plans to pursue a
business degree. Samantha works
as an administrative assistant for a property management
company; she says she wants to be an agent for change in
her community and aspires to “advocate for lower-income
groups to promote good corporate stewardship and public-
private partnerships.” When she was 10, Samantha’s father
suffered a nearly fatal descending thoracic-aortic aneurysm
that required him to be airlifted to Houston. “My dad’s union
membership literally saved his life,” Samantha said. “My mom
is convinced that without my dad’s excellent health benefits
through the union, he would be paralyzed and possibly dead,
and that my family would have faced financial ruin.”
IUOE Local 101—Halie Steward
Halie, whose father, Elroy Steward, is a member of IUOE Local
101, has been awarded a $1,000 scholarship. Halie is a nursing
student at the University of Central
Missouri who expects to complete
her degree in May 2016. While she
plans to immediately enter the
nursing field, possibly by serving
with the U.S. military, she aspires
to eventually complete a doctorate
in nursing and become a nurse
practitioner. Halie sees her father’s
ability to be heavily involved in her
life and support her as a byproduct
of favorable work conditions
provided through his union membership. “He has taught me
so much, including the value of hard work, being honest and
caring, and to appreciate the blessings in our lives,” she said.
IUOE Local 324—Spenser Warren
Spenser, whose father, Milo Warren, is a member of IUOE
Local 324, has been awarded a $1,000 scholarship. Spenser
is an international relations and
Russian/Russian studies major at
Michigan State University with an
expected graduation date of May
2017. He intends to pursue a career
in diplomacy and/or intelligence
with a focus on national security
and international democratization.
Both of his parents are union
members (mother, Julie Warren,
UAW Local 6000). Spenser said that
without the efforts of the unions, one or both of his parents
would have lost their jobs while he was in school. “Had this
happened, I would most likely not be in college today, at least
not at Michigan State University,” he said.
IUOE Local 39—EveAngela Ashley Williams
Ashley, whose father, Richard Williams, is a member of IUOE
Local 39, has been awarded a $500 scholarship. Ashley is a
nursing student at San Joaquin Delta State College in Stockton,
Calif., with an anticipated graduation date of May 2018. After
completion of her associate degree, Ashley hopes to pursue
a bachelor’s degree in nutrition. Ashley said her father’s
union membership has provided her family with stability and
resources they would not otherwise have enjoyed. “Unions
have put much effort and bargaining into improving rights
and wages for workers,” she said.
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