Wells Fargo Rewards Reuland With Scholarship

CHAPEL HILL, N.C. – When Frances Reuland enrolled at UNC in the fall of 2014, she was in a position similar to that of many freshmen: not quite sure what direction she wanted to take with her academic career or with her athletic career. She'll graduate in May in a far different – and extremely impressive – spot: as a three-year letterwinner and ACC Champion for the UNC women's soccer team, and as the recipient of a $10,000 Wells Fargo Postgraduate Scholarship she'll use to work toward her master's degree in public health with the goal of working in the field of environmental health policy.

"I can't express how grateful I am for this scholarship," Reuland said. "Wells Fargo clearly is making an effort to reward and emphasize how important academics are for student-athletes here at UNC. The mindset that our coach, Anson Dorrance, has instilled in me is that we want to improve athletically, academically and in our character. It's nice that Wells Fargo is mirroring that, and the fact that they're backing it with money makes a powerful statement."

Wells Fargo representative Mike Golden, the Triangle region bank president, announced the scholarship and presented the distinctive Wells Fargo stagecoach trophy to Reuland on Feb. 3 at the annual Rams Club Scholarship Dinner, held on the UNC campus at the Loudermilk Center for Excellence.

"Wells Fargo is pleased to present our fifth Wells Fargo Post-graduate Scholarship to Frances Reuland," Golden said. "Frances is a dedicated student focused on her academic and athletic pursuits as well as her community. Wells Fargo is proud to support future leaders of tomorrow, like Frances, as they take the next step in their pursuit for knowledge and further education."

Reuland is looking ahead to that next step right now. She is in the midst of applying to master's programs and will then decide whether to go straight to graduate school or take one year to work or intern in a position that might help sharpen her focus.

Past Wells Fargo Postgraduate Scholarship recipients are Katie McKay (2017, women's swimming); Carly Wooten (2016, women's fencing); Loren Shealy (2015, field hockey); Michelle Ikoma (2014, gymnastics); and Pete Mangum (2013, football).

Reuland, who has been inducted into Phi Beta Kappa national honors society, is working toward a double major in environmental sciences and Spanish. She stumbled into the field that has become her passion after spotting a posting on the Office of Undergraduate Research website.

"The posting was from a postdoc in the School of Public Health who needed a research assistant," she said. "She looks at environmental health and health care facilities in low-income countries, and I jumped into that research with her. It was a totally new experience for me and I ended up doing field research in the summer in Malawi and I'm now writing my thesis on the data we collected. I had no expectations but now it's become really integral to my college experience and informing where I want to go."

In addition to her research in Malawi in the summer of 2017, she spent the summer of 2016 in Argentina studying Spanish as part of a UNC Study Abroad program. In both cases, she still was expected to maintain her soccer fitness level and return to campus in early August ready for the field. That sometimes proved challenging, particularly in Malawi, where she didn't have a fitness facility for strength training and improvised a routine that included pull-ups on tree branches. In both places, frequent pickup soccer games against local male players helped keep her skills sharp, an example of just one of the ways that balancing her academic aspirations with her athletic ones has been challenging, yet rewarding.

"It definitely hasn't been easy, but I think it's been possible because of the team I have and the coaches I have, Anson in particular," she said. "He's been as supportive of my academics as my athletics. He wants our team to be the best it can be but he also knows he has to support us academically, and he's really big on character development and how we grow as people.

"I'm not sure if I'd gone to some other schools I would have been able to do this. Anson knew I was committed and he trusted me to go pursue my academics whenever I needed to. If I had to miss practice he knew that I hated it, but that I had to. The coaches didn't ever make me feel bad for that."

Reuland, who grew up in Chapel Hill, came to UNC unsure what her soccer future would hold. She captained the Chapel Hill High School girls' soccer team and earned all-state honors but initially pursed the game she loved as a member of the UNC club soccer team. After her freshman fall, she joined the Carolina varsity squad for spring practice and was asked to stay on for that fall. "I thought I'd just go for it and try and if it didn't work out I'd be very happy to play on the club team here," she said. "We have an amazing club team program here. I love soccer and I just wanted to play."

As a member of the varsity squad, Reuland has seen limited game action but has been a valuable part of the program. As a junior, she was the recipient of the NCAA Elite 90 Award, which goes to the student-athlete at the College Cup with the highest cumulative grade point average.

With her soccer career now behind her, she's working to finish her honors thesis (Energy Access and Environmental Health in Malawian Health Care Facilities) and decide on a graduate program. Eventually she hopes to work at the junction between environmental science and policy making, perhaps for the U.N. or another international organization. She is specifically interested in climate and how it impacts human health.

She's grateful to Wells Fargo for perhaps the most impactful assist of her career. "This is going to be a great financial help to me," she said. "I haven't decided which grad school I want to go to, but this is definitely going to give me more freedom in where I might pick. I don't have to decide based solely on how much financial assistance each school might give me. It's incredible."

Many would say the same of Reuland.

Players Mentioned

Frances Reuland

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