A Grand Adventure

By Shannon Russell ’98

When Quthesa Whitaker ’08 decided to return to Miami University three years ago, she had no doubt she would finish her sociology degree — even if it was 17 years, four children, and four grandchildren after she started college.

“I had several people telling me, ‘Oh, it’s going to be hard to do this,’ to go back,” Whitaker said.

But “Qu,” as she is known to family and friends, was excited about her studies with classmates significantly younger than her eldest daughter, Shaquita, who graduated from Miami in 2000.

Coincidentally, when Whitaker stopped by Miami Middletown’s campus to request her transcripts, she bumped into her former adviser, associate professor of sociology Robert Seufert, who encouraged her to apply for a position in the Applied Research Center. She got the job.

Academics came next. She learned all her credits from her first collegiate experience were valid, great news since she still wanted to pursue a sociology degree.

“That’s my niche,” she said. “I like cultures, learning something different. I’ve always known I’ve wanted to do something helping people, especially the disadvantaged.”

A firsthand witness of Whitaker’s passion, Cordelia Stroinigg, the Oxford campus coordinator for Miami’s John E. Dolibois European Campus (MUDEC), wrote a scholarship recommendation for her.

In the letter to the Benjamin A. Gilman International Scholarship — which enables students with limited financial means to participate in undergraduate study abroad programs — Stroinigg called Whitaker “an inspiration.” This chord resonated with the judges, who selected her for one of the scholarships.

Although she could have picked almost any destination, she chose Luxembourg for two reasons: She liked that it was Miami’s study abroad campus, and she wanted to live there with a host family.

On Jan. 8 she boarded a plane and began a whirlwind spring semester that included becoming fast friends with her host family, retirees Klaus and Kitty Sauerwein, who live down the street from Miami’s campus in Differdange. They introduced her to the culture with breakfasts of croissants and coffee and big lunches of chicken and potato mash.

Among the trip’s many highlights for Whitaker, who also took 17 hours of coursework, was speaking French to fluent citizens and excursions to Poland, Belgium, and London.

Stroinigg thinks Whitaker’s Luxembourg experiences will affect those she touches in the future, explaining, “Her journey in the educational system will give her plenty of wonderful stories to tell and have people follow in her footsteps.”

Shannon Russell ’98 wrote about Miami’s avid hockey fans in the Summer 2008 Miamian.