Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2022 - 27

CADDIE CORNER
Creating Leaders
S
ince 2010, there have been six Minnesota Evans
Scholarship recipients out of Bearpath Country Club.
While that number may not match Hillcrest Golf Club's
80 Evans Scholar recipients, the impact of the Evans Scholars
has been measurable inside and outside the Evans Scholar program.
Paul Stadem, a Bearpath caddie, 2013 graduate of the
University of Minnesota and an Evans Scholar, has gone on
to impact many lives around the world through his work
in medicine.
As a young teen, Stadem started caddieing partly because it
was the only job he could land as a 13-year-old. What's more, it
was around the time when he was starting to love the game of
golf. Once begun, he quickly learned the impact that caddieing
could have on the rest of his life if he took it seriously. During
Stadem's third year of looping, Bearpath hosted a meeting outlining
the requirements for receiving the Evans Scholarship and
after that meeting, he knew the Evans Scholarship was a goal
that he would strive to achieve.
The guiding principle of the Minnesota Evans Scholarship
program is the belief " it takes one caring adult to change a
young person's life. " For Stadem it was two. Both Dan Schmidt,
a Bearpath member, former caddie, and advocate of the caddie
program, and Phillip Olson, Bearpath's caddie manager and
lead assistant golf professional, were instrumental in Stadem's
journey in earning the Evans Scholarship. Schmidt proved a
steady mentor, and Olson would always ensure that Stadem
would get a loop if he was at the course and would call him if
there was an available loop.
Olson went on to say, " Paul was one of the most respected
caddies to ever come through the Bearpath caddie program.
From his dedication, to his leadership, to the quality service he
provided, he was always superior. I will never forget Paul and
the success story he's been out in the world and at Bearpath! "
Stadem went on to receive the Evans Scholarship due to people
like Schmidt and Olson and it changed the course of his life.
He went on to say, " It was life changing. I can't say enough good
things about the Evans Scholarship. Not only the financial gift
of the full-tuition, full-housing scholarship but the community
and life-long friends that I made from the program. The fact
that everyone is there for the same reason but are so different
allowed me to learn from each one of the Scholars. " He went
on to say that his experiences in the Evans Scholarship program
have formed him into the person he is today and guided him on
his career path.
After graduating from the University of Minnesota, Stadem
became the first Evans Scholar in its 92-year history to become
PAUL STADEM
a Fulbright Scholar. The Fulbright Program is the flagship international
educational exchange program designed to increase
mutual understanding between the people of the United States
and the people of other countries. The program provides
participants-chosen for their academic merit and leadership
potential-with the opportunity to study, teach and conduct
research, exchange ideas and solve mutual international concerns.
In Stadem's case, he was working on a project studying a
blood disorder with a hematology department in a local hospital
in Kampala, Uganda. He also worked on a community-based
project with a local orphanage outside Kampala.
Following his Fulbright Scholarship, he attended medical
school at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, then a three-year
residency with a focus on family medicine at North Memorial
Hospital in Robbinsdale, which he completed in June 2021.
Today, Stadem is a primary care physician at HealthPartners in
Brooklyn Center. " To me the interest in getting to know other
people and where they are at in their life, what I can do to
learn and help in any way I can started when I was young and
caddieing, and was solidified going through the Evans
Scholarship program. "
Jack Mendesh is the MGA's caddie development manager, and can be
reached at caddie@mngolf.org.
mngolf.org
Fall 2022 MINNESOTAGOLFER
27
* BY JACK MENDESH *
http://www.mngolf.org
Minnesota Golfer - Fall 2022

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