Maddie Bublik, a Lawrence University sophomore from Wausau, Wisconsin, is making an impact on and off campus through her role as the coordinator of a Lawrence program that encourages students to volunteer as tutors for young students in the Appleton community.
It’s one of multiple ways the physics and German double major is making important connections on her undergraduate journey.
VITAL (Volunteers in Tutoring at Lawrence) is a program for Lawrence students to get experience in one-on-one tutoring with K-12 students in the Appleton Area School District (AASD). As the program coordinator, Bublik matches Lawrence students with AASD students who need help in a chosen subject area.
“I am passionate about helping people, and VITAL is a wonderful way to do that,” Bublik said. “VITAL allows me to assist students from Lawrence who want volunteer opportunities and also assist students from AASD who are struggling and need help with the harder subjects in school.”
Bublik’s work in VITAL has helped her develop wide-ranging skills, including professional communication and efficient productivity. While she’s not looking at jobs specific to education, she believes the skills she’s developing are important to any field, including her planned path of dentistry.
“For now, I just really enjoy the VITAL Program and working in the CCE (Center for Community Engagement and Social Change) with all of the wonderful people,” Bublik said.
Explore the laws of the universe through individualized research, multidisciplinary courses, and collaborative experiences.
When not running VITAL, Bublik can be found hard at work in the classroom and on the tennis court. She fell in love with physics while shadowing a Modern Physics class at a LUX (Lawrence University Experience) event prior to starting at Lawrence.
Bublik said she’s enjoyed the dynamic range of the physics major, and she loves the people she gets to work with. She did not originally plan a second major in German, but she found that she loved the language and culture, as well as the German Department, while completing her language requirement. She now plans to study abroad in Berlin.
Explore the German-speaking world from multiple perspectives.
Bublik started playing tennis during her sophomore year of high school. While she enjoyed it, she never planned to play at the college level. That changed when Hannah Herzog in Lawrence Athletics reached out and asked if she would be interested in joining the team during her first year at Lawrence.
“I love playing since it’s not just physical but it’s also such a mental game,” Bublik said. “So many things are so different about every single player you play. It’s a very adaptable sport.”
If there’s one thing Bublik has learned so far in her time at Lawrence, it’s the importance of self-advocacy.
“I wouldn’t have gotten my position as the program coordinator or any of the opportunities it’s given me if I hadn’t applied to the CCE and reached out,” she said. “I’ve met some of my favorite people here through the CCE, and if I hadn’t reached out in the first place none of that would have happened.”
