Student, physical education instructor, Piney Lake supervisor, class advisor, volleyball coach, and friend …
Throughout her years at UNCG and the decades beyond, Pat Hielscher ’66, ’70 MSPE has been many things to many people, most recently honoree of the Physical Education Class of 1975 Scholarship, whose recipients are known as “Hielscher Scholars.”
Pat is humbled by this tribute from the physical education students she was assigned in the fall of 1971. The special bond that formed among “The Class” and their advisor continues to this day. But what many may not know is that in addition to being honored by a UNCG scholarship, Pat is a generous donor herself.
Made UNCG’s first Women’s Volleyball coach in 1970, Pat developed a winning intercollegiate program. In 2008,
she established the Patricia A. Hielscher Volleyball Athletic Scholarship with a testamentary gift, to be awarded to
a student-athlete who competes at a high level while sustaining academic performance that meets or surpasses University standards.
Also in 2008, Pat pledged an additional testamentary gift to establish funding for a second scholarship to honor a family member, expanded in 2021 to create the Hielscher Family Endowed Scholarship in Kinesiology, which will support graduate students in the Department of Kinesiology.
“The University supported me in the pursuit of my dream when financially my parents had very few resources. It is my turn to provide some assistance to aspiring students who dare to pursue their dreams,” Pat says.
By Chris Garton
Courtesy photography
