After Henry Wehrs graduates, he\u2019d like to join the Peace Corps. Or work in a nonprofit focusing on financial literacy. Or join an organization that supports affordable housing access.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s been there. He gets it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat (used to be) one of my big fears, that we weren\u2019t going to have enough money to pay the rent and that we would lose our place,\u201d he recalled. \u201cI think my lack of financial literacy and my young adulthood has made me passionate about helping young people save for retirement and helping people who are in debt.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s why Wehrs is studying economics and urban studies \u2013 he wants to have the tools to help people in the same circumstances he once faced.<\/p>\n
Henry Wehrs grew up the second of five kids in a family that lived in La Crosse, Wisconsin. For college, he said, he wanted a big school, and UW-Milwaukee fit the bill. For a semester, he lived in the dorms, went to class, and enjoyed party life \u2013 until a mental health crisis hit and knocked Wehrs\u2019 life off track.<\/p>\n
\u201cI have a history of mental health issues in my family and it\u2019s a real struggle. I ended up having to leave school to recover. It was a pretty significant barrier to picking myself up after college,\u201d Wehrs recalled. \u201cI left UW-Milwaukee feeling very defeated and about $7,000 in school debt.\u201d<\/p>\n
That was in early 2013. Wehrs took several months to recover his health, and then he began to tackle the debt.<\/p>\n
He spent the next three years working as a carpenter for a company in Madison. In 2016, he and his partner followed new opportunities to Whidbey Island, Washington, where Wehrs picked up another skill: \u201cI was getting into home baking and baking my own bread,\u201d he said. \u201cI took a job at a company called Primal Island. I ended up baking there for a little under a year.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Wehrs didn\u2019t want to be a baker or carpenter forever. He began thinking about college again, so he and his partner moved back to Milwaukee to be closer to 51ÁÔÆæ. But money was tight after two cross-country moves in less than two years.<\/p>\n
\u201cI picked up the first job I could find, which was in Riverwest at Tramont Manufacturing,\u201d Wehrs said. \u201cIt was strange and interesting for me to be one of a very few white employees in a very working-class job dominated by African America and Hispanic workers. There were very clear racial divisions in the labor hierarchy. It got me really interested in labor relations and labor economics.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Wehrs knew he couldn\u2019t stay. After just four months on the job, he was offered a raise \u2013 to a wage higher than one of his Hispanic coworkers, who had been with the company for 12 years.<\/p>\n
Instead, Wehrs took a job at Troubadour Bakery. He biked to work every day from his apartment on the east side down to the bakery in Bay View, a commute that he said worked off all the croissants he ate on the job.<\/p>\n
Wehrs considers himself lucky that he had a steady income as he fought his way back to 51ÁÔÆæ, but living paycheck to paycheck brought a special kind of anxiety.<\/p>\n
\u201cLiving in poverty, debt, or both, is a curse. You\u2019re tense all the time,\u201d he once wrote in a scholarship application. \u201cA day without a gut-wrenching realization is a good one. \u2026 There was a feeling of desperation always lurking in the corner of my mind, ready to enter the foreground if my car broke down on the way home, or if I accidentally over drafted my checking.\u201d<\/p>\n
On top of his finances, Wehrs had to build up the courage to go back to school. His first semester had left quite a mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a lot to prove to myself: That I can be a diligent student, that I was smart enough to go to college,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
In 2019, Wehrs came back to 51ÁÔÆæ, and he\u2019s thrived. It has been odd being much older than his classmates, he said, but he\u2019s enjoyed his classes with history professor Amanda Seligman and economics professor John Heywood, and loves heading up the Economics Club with guidance from economics professor Rebecca Neumann. He\u2019s even picked up a new language: Wehrs is taking Arabic and hopes to study abroad in Jordan next summer.<\/p>\n
Because he\u2019s been there, Wehrs feels for students who are facing their own hardships \u2013 be they financial or with mental health. His advice is to ask for help. It seems simple, but Wehrs knows it\u2019s a challenge.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that\u2019s such an important skill that students need to learn. Don\u2019t let your pride get in the way of seeking help. You deserve help. Take advantage of every resource available to you,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Wehrs plans to graduate in 2022.<\/p>\n
By Sarah Vickery<\/strong>, College of Letters & Science<\/small><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" After Henry Wehrs graduates, he\u2019d like to join the Peace Corps. Or work in a nonprofit focusing on financial literacy. Or join an organization that supports affordable housing access. He\u2019s been there. He gets it. \u201cThat (used to be) one …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":28112,"featured_media":16936,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","uwm_wg_additional_authors":[]},"categories":[1715],"tags":[1861],"class_list":["post-16911","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-in-focus-2021","tag-november"],"yoast_head":"\n