Ellen Ouellette, a second-year medical student, descends from a dynasty of UA alumni extending over 90 years and is pleased to be another link between her family, her university and Tucson.
“[The] UA is the hub of Tucson,” Ellen Ouellette said. “It is home.”
Breaking the chain in Ellen Ouellette’s family legacy would have been difficult in her close-knit family. Though her father, David Ouellette, didn’t attend the UA, he is employed as program coordinator of the CatTran transportation.
Each Sunday evening, Ellen Ouellette’s relatives gather for a weekly reunion, marking calendars for upcoming UA events. Years were spent hollering at the television in support of any UA sporting event, extended from a love nurtured by her grandmother.
Jean Bryant Lindberg, a teaching graduate in 1948, played for the Wildcat softball club. Eight of Jean Bryant Lindberg’s 11 children attended their mother’s alma mater, studying professions including education, engineering, medicine, law and many in between.
Julia Lindberg, daughter of Jean Bryant Lindberg, said her mother was proud to have gone to the UA and to have raised Wildcats.
Jean Bryant Lindberg passed down her enthusiasm for softball, resulting in family traveling out of state to games in show of support and annually purchasing of UA softball T-shirts. When attendance at a game proved difficult, hollering at the TV was the next best option.
Olivia Ouellette, a nutritional science freshman, said she is excited to finally step away from the sidelines, join in campus activities and prepare for her first homecoming.
Jaclyn Ouellette, a public health junior, said she spends her time being involved with Project Sunshine and Global Medical Brigades.
Wildcat memorabilia began piling up before the Ouellette sisters enrolled at the UA.
“I have been collecting memorabilia since I was young,” Olivia Ouellette said.
The sisters’ collection of UA backpacks, water bottles, sweatshirts and pajama pants might help Olivia Ouellette in her candidacy to join the Sigma Alpha agricultural sorority.
Family Weekend holds special memories for the Ouellette and Lindberg clan.
Julia Lindberg recalled her parents winning Family Weekend prizes two consecutive years in the 1970s for having the most children attend the UA at the same time.
Nothing has surprised the sisters while attending the UA as students. The UA has been a piece of their family since childhood, growing and changing along with them and adding to their experiences in life.
Ellen Ouellette studied in Bavaria, Germany, in 2012 through the UA’s BRAVO! program, benefiting her research and knowledge in the UA’s Rural Health Professions Program.
When she isn’t spending her time studying in the Arizona Health Sciences Library, she is joined by other medical students at popular UA hotspot The Maverick to two-step her cares away.
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