Cathy Wilhm

We all value the gift of family. Sometimes, though, we don’t know how to really show our appreciation for those gifts until after someone we love has passed… which was the case for me. My name is Cathy Wilhm and I’ve been with the College since 2001. I am currently the Dean of Technical Careers at LCC, but I began at the Capital Area Michigan Works! office where I worked with our most vulnerable populations…the unemployed and disadvantage. For some time, it was a goal of mine to do more for the increasing number of people I saw walk through the doors at Capital Area Michigan Works! and into my office. I believe that we all have a responsibility to share the gifts which we have been given and to look at ways in which we can change the world for the better. While it would be wonderful to do it in one broad sweep of the hand, for most of us it begins with just one person at a time. Establishing a scholarship in my mother’s name was the first step for me.

I did not realize it at the time, but while I was growing up my mother made many sacrifices for my sister, brothers, and I. It wasn’t until many, many years later that I came to realize this. When we were young, my parents divorced and my mother, who was raising the four of us, decided to go to college. She had helped my father with his business over the years but only had a high school diploma. She struggled to raise four teenagers, work full-time, and continue her education so that she could one day have a career that would sustain all of us. Her courage went unnoticed for far too long. The LCC scholarship that I started in her name honors her courage, commitment, and passion to make family a priority. It is my hope that the Joyce L. Hegan Scholarship will help other adults who are struggling to improve the quality of life for both themselves and their families.