The Carol and Marcia Nappi Endowed Scholarship
Carol Nappi and her mother, Marcia Nappi, shared a deep passion for lifelong learning. Upon their passing, the Carol and Marcia Nappi Endowed Scholarship was established at Moraine Park, awarding a $1,000 scholarship to a female Mechanical Design Technology student each year.
Carol Nappi started her education at the University of Montana, and later transferred to Carroll College in Waukesha where she earned her bachelor’s degree in 1985 and went to work. When she decided she wanted to pursue a career in manufacturing, she enrolled at Moraine Park and graduated in 1998.
“Carol was a humble woman and never did anything for the accolades,” Ruthann Gaston, sister of Carol Nappi, said. “She was great at what she did, but it never crossed her mind to get an award or recognition of any kind. When Carol was schooling at Carroll College, she participated in a Wisconsin statewide engineering competition. We found her trophy when we were packing up her things to move. She had taken first place and none of us knew.”
Her performance in the Mechanical Design Technology program at Moraine Park impressed her instructor so much that she was actively recruited to come back and teach. Carol was finishing her first year of teaching at Moraine Park when she passed away unexpectedly.
“When we had Carol’s service, one thing that stuck out the most for me was that three of her students traveled all the way to Rockford, IL from Fond du Lac to attend her funeral,” Gaston said. “I think that speaks to the impact she had on her students, even in just one year of teaching.”
The scholarship was established to honor Carol, and when her mother Marcia passed away in 2005, she was added to the scholarship.
Marcia Nappi graduated from the University of Whitewater, formerly the Wisconsin State Teachers College. She, like Carol, dedicated her life to teaching and learning. She taught chemistry for several years and became a fourth-grade teacher in Rockford, IL.
“Our sister and our mother were very strong-willed women,” Jane Snively, sister of Carol Nappi and daughter of Marcia Nappi, said. “They both went out and grabbed life by the horns–they knew the value of education and actively put that to use through teaching. They were the kind of women everybody liked and gravitated toward.”
Both Marcia and Carol excelled in traditionally male-dominated career fields in their lifetimes. Carol worked at Wisconsin Centrifugal and Mercury Marine, and Marcia ran a sports car racing track in partnership with her husband.
“Carol was proud to be a female in her career field,” Gaston said. “In several of her positions, she ended up training her bosses. Both my mother and my sister were honest to a fault–they told you what they thought and they would let you fall on your face if they knew you needed to. They were very wise women, and it is no surprise that both of them ended up in careers that broke glass ceilings.”
The first Carol and Marcia Nappi Endowed Scholarship was awarded in 2002. Since its establishment, more than 20 women have received the scholarship.
“This scholarship is very personal,” Gaston said. “I am also in the manufacturing arena, and I think women have been historically shortchanged in this field, although it is changing rapidly. Having a scholarship recognizing two of the most amazing women I have met in my life is very special. I always say– I am the granddaughter of a strong-willed woman, the daughter of a strong-willed woman, I have two sisters who are strong-willed women, and I have a daughter and a granddaughter who are all strong-willed women. The fact that we can establish an endowed scholarship that will continue forever in the name of two people who are such excellent role models is very pleasing to our whole family.”
