Scholarships Helped Scholar/Athlete To Stay On Track

By Kaaren Valenta

Allison Sigler knows first-hand the importance of college scholarships.

The daughter of Sue and Joe Sigler of Hemlock Road in Newtown, Allison used a $1,000 scholarship from the General Federation of Women’s Clubs (GFWC) to help with her senior year at Northeastern University in Boston. She is now in a graduate program in exercise physiology at the school.

 “Scholarships are out there if you look for them,” she said. “Every little bit helps.”

Allison Sigler, 23, found out about the GFWC scholarship through a newspaper article. She also learned of a scholarship from the Susan Fund, which she applied for and received every year. The Susan Fund is for cancer survivors. Allison had cancer as an infant, and was diagnosed with diabetes while she was still in high school. During her treatment, she became interested in the field that she hopes to make her career.

“Learning about exercise and nutrition helps with diabetes,” she explained. “I found it very interesting – a unique type of job.”

As an undergraduate, she did an internship in the exercise physiology department at the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, and admits she would love to work there after she finishes her master’s degree program.

“I worked with patients of all ages – eight and nine year olds as well as 80 and 90 year olds – and that’s appealing to me,” she said. “Some of the patients knew that I have diabetes. Even though I am young, they respected that and took what I said a little more seriously.”

Allison has never let diabetes stand in her way. She was a Markette at Newtown High School and a BMX racer. She has been racing BMX for about 15 years and is also on the mountain bike team at Northeastern.

“There aren’t a ton of girls [doing the racing] but there’s enough of us,” she said. “It’s a lot of fun and it keeps you in shape.”

Allison now is working at the Marino Recreation Center as a fitness graduate assistant, helping to run the aerobics program and the personal training program. Because her graduate assistant position pays for her master’s program tuition, she no longer has to apply for scholarships like those available through the GFWC.

 “Over the years I’ve applied for lots of scholarships, and this one [the GFWC] was fairly easy,” she said. “I had to write an essay and fill out an application. That’s not a lot of work.”

The scholarship that Allison received from the GFWC is available again this year to qualified women who are pursuing their education. Applicants must have a minimum 3.0 average and must have completed either two or three years of undergraduate study at an institution of higher learning.

Applications are available by writing to Scholarship Chairman, Newtown Women’s Club (GFWC), PO Box 101, Newtown, CT 06470. The deadline for completed applications is February 10.