A Teacher’s Gift: Student support takes a “dramatic” turn for the better thanks to a planned gift from an alumna/former professor
By Jeanne Nagle | June 2024
Professor Isabelle Stelmahoske ’49 loved a good story, especially when acted out on a theater stage. In honor of a recent gift made by Stelmahoske’s estate to UWSP—her undergraduate alma mater and employer for more than 29 years—Cupola Post presents the fictional production pitch for a dramatization of her life entitled “A Teacher’s Gift.”
Act I
Scene 1—A home and surrounding environs in Stevens Point
We open on a young Isabelle, being raised by her newly single mother. Martha Marchel Stelmahoske, who we learn had studied at Stevens Point Normal School beginning in 1911, is an educator who, by instruction and example, instills in her daughter a fierce sense of independence.
As she grows into a young woman, Isabelle’s blossoming compassion for others is underscored by her joining the Quaker movement and embracing their values of simplicity and pacifism.
Scene 2—University campuses; the Stelmahoske home
Isabelle graduates from St. Joseph’s Academy in Stevens Point and declares her intention of becoming a teacher, following in the path trod by her mother. The audience sees her advance in her studies, first earning her undergraduate degree at Central State Teacher’s College—formerly known as Stevens Point Normal, which was her mother’s alma mater—and a master’s from Marquette University. Isabelle completes her doctoral coursework at UW-Madison, but when her mother falls ill, she sets aside toiling on her thesis and returns home to Point to care for her.
On the personal front, Isabelle becomes a supporter of the Women’s Rights Movement in the United States. While she has no qualms about her decision to stay by her mother’s side in the latter’s time of need, she is wistful about not finishing her dissertation and receiving her Ph.D.
Scene 3—A high school classroom/auditorium
Isabelle accepts a job teaching English at high schools throughout the Stevens Point area. She revels in helping her students tap into their creativity, nurturing several promising young writers in the process. Sometimes she wishes she could bestow upon these talented authors more than merely a passing grade for their wonderful stories. Over the course of 16 years, she also shares her passion for live theater with students by serving as director of some 32 high school dramatic productions.
As the curtain comes down on Act One, it is 1965. We rejoice with Isabelle as she is about to embark on the next stage of her career, accepting a position as an associate professor of English at her alma mater, now known as Wisconsin State College.
INTERMISSION
Act II
Scene 1—Point campus/classroom
As the second-act curtain rises, Isabelle has been teaching English and dramatic literature at the college level for a few years. We watch her make her mark by crafting departmental curriculum, including one course, Reading the Drama, which is imbued with her theatrical sensibilities. She also takes great pride in creating a section of first-year English exclusively for non-traditional students.
Her endeavors to giving students every possible advantage is also evident when, in 1973, she establishes the High School Writers’ Workshop at the college—which will soon be rechristened the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. The workshop is an homage to aspiring, promising young writers like the high schoolers she once taught. Isabelle remains involved in the administration of the workshop throughout her tenure at the university.
Scene 2—Point campus/classroom; London; Stelmahoske home
While with UWSP’s English Department, Isabelle receives the Excellence in Teaching Award—twice. Not one to rest on her laurels, she continues creating innovative opportunities for students. On the eve of her retirement, working with the Department of Theatre and Dance, she helps establish the Theatre in London summer program in 1992. The program is destined to become a staple at the university for years to come.
In her personal life, Isabelle loses her beloved mother in March of 1985. The following year, the Martha Marchel Teaching Award is established at the university. Funding for the scholarship is provided by friends and family, including, of course, her only child, who also helps steward the award.
Scene 3—Point campus
Isabelle officially retires from the English Department in 1994. But she and UWSP are not done with each other yet. The Theatre Department welcomes her back as lecturer and faculty chaperone for the London summer program in 1998, 2001 and 2003. She becomes a founding member of the Learning is ForEver (LIFE) program for area retirees, teaching dramatic literature and theater courses, and serving as a tour guide for treks to the renowned Guthrie Theatre in Minneapolis. She also keeps busy serving on the boards of arts organizations in and around Stevens Point.
A great sense of loss throughout the UWSP and Stevens Point communities follows Isabelle’s death in 2016. Thanks to a generous nature and careful planning, however, we bear witness to the life of this gifted educator receiving its own figurative second act in 2024 through a planned estate gift benefitting scholarship and student-support funds at the university.
Money from Isabelle’s estate helps endow the Martha Marchel Teaching Award; the Developing Writers Scholarship (formerly the High School Writers’ Workshop Award), currently administered by Cornerstone Press; and a stipend to fund student participation in the biannual Theatre in London summer program. The gift also makes possible the Theatre Department’s award for outstanding student directors—rechristened the Isabelle Stelmahoske Award in Student Directing in her honor.
End scene and play. Thunderous applause ensues for the teacher and her magnificent gift.
