On the north-east side of 13th and Wells, you’ll see an always full parking lot, some people barbecuing or playing basketball, and a brick building. You’ll see the pumpkins up on the ledge of the roof carved with the building’s namesake on them in October, lights strung up and a tree peaking out of the window in December, and occasionally a real-life Leprechaun running around the property in March.

Walk inside and you’ll be warmly welcomed by a group of scholars watching a movie or whatever sports event is on TV (yes, we do crowd around the TV to watch the Masters). Walk down the hallways and you’ll hear laughing and yelling across the hall to one another about whatever music is playing throughout the place. Take a trip downstairs to the basement and you’ll be greeted by at least one person doing dishes, people studying, and a seemingly never-ceasing game of ping-pong. This place is where the Marquette University Evans Scholars call home.

While most Marquette students have surely walked past our home or even heard the LIMO drivers drop us off at the creatively named “caddy shack,” few people actually know who we are. There are a lot of untrue stereotypes about us like that we caddy for the golf team, that we are the golf team, or that all we had to do was a little stint as a caddy for a full ride. Personally, I don’t even know anyone on the golf team, so we certainly do not caddy for them; some of us wish we were good enough to be on the golf team, but we are definitely not on the team; we did have to caddy to get where we are, but it’s much more than that.

All Evans Scholars have come from different walks of life, but the one walk we all have in common is on the golf course. It is true, you do have to be a caddy with an outstanding caddy record for at least two years to even be able to apply to be an Evans Scholar, but once again, that’s not all. You must have academic excellence, be an integral part of your high school, show great financial need, and complete hours of service to your surrounding community to be considered for the scholarship. There are 14 (soon to be 15) Evans Scholar houses across the nation that are home to people just like the scholars at Marquette.

If this sounds like a life-changing scholarship, it is. One stereotype that is the worst of all of them is that we are ungrateful snobs. We worked hard to get where we are, and we are in no way ungrateful or uncertain of why we are at Marquette. Many of us would not have been able to even consider Marquette an option if it weren’t for the scholarship. Evans Scholars across the nation work hard to have a national average GPA of above a 3.2. The Marquette University Evans Scholars host an annual St. Baldrick’s event every March to benefit childhood cancer research thanks to our alum Devlin Gray who started the event in 2010 after battling childhood cancer himself. We also participate in Briggs and Al’s Run every year, and partake in various neighborhood philanthropy opportunities, such as MUSG’s Neighborhood Clean-Up and sorting food at Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin amongst other charitable activities. We know that we’ve only gotten where we are because of the people who helped us, so we work hard to make sure we make those people proud and give back to the community that we call home. There is a mentorship program where current Evans Scholars can pair up with Evans Scholar alumni for assistance in the transition to the professional world; Evans Scholar alumni give back in time, effort, and donations because this scholarship is so life-altering and truly a blessing. We all carry the Evans Scholar name like the badge of honor it is and want to help out others in the same situations we were once in.

We are a good-natured bunch of college kids who were blessed with the best gift possible: a college education and the opportunities that come along with it. We are involved in clubs, sports, and have jobs on campus; in case you don’t happen to know an Evans Scholar and you’re wondering about that brick building we call home, spot the kids in the MUES gear and ask us about our story. We’ll be glad to welcome you into our home to show you around and befriend you (there are 60 plus of us that live in that home at any given time…hopefully you’ll find at least one person that’s friend-worthy). Heck, we might even invite you to play a round of urban golf. Let us show you that we are much more and much different than the stereotypes.