Fulbright scholar to research HIV/AIDS in India

Washington native came to Forest Grove as a female wrestler

By Nancy Townsley

The Forest Grove News-Times, May 20, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009 (3 Reader comments)

Jean Laschever will graduate from Pacific University this weekend with a double degree in social work and sociology. She’ll travel to India in August on a Fulbright grant to conduct research on HIV/AIDS policy in that country.

Chase Allgood / News-Times

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Jean Laschever never shrinks from a challenge or balks at questioning a cultural norm – and she credits her parents for her fortitude.

“Everything I am and everything I have the capacity to be, I owe to them,” Laschever, 22, said about her mom and dad, Eulalie and Eric Laschever of Mercer Island, Wash.

“My parents have always supported me fully in whatever I’ve wanted to do,” said Jean, a senior at Pacific University and a Fulbright scholar.

“If I wanted to go all ‘Walden’ and live by myself in a cabin in the woods, and that’s what would make me happy, my folks would want that for me.”

Fortunately for Laschever – who’s found herself in the center of more than one situation that’s demanded her best instincts – her parents have remained in her corner at every turn in her young life.

‘Out of my element’

She came to Forest Grove four years ago mainly because the local school had a womens wrestling team. Laschever, now 22, had wrestled for four years at Mercer Island High School in Washington state.

She lettered 12 times at MIHS, participating in cross country, wrestling and track. But it was the winter sport that tested her mettle the most.

“I was on varsity for three years, wrestling all boys,” said Laschever, who’ll graduate this Saturday with a double degree in sociology and social work. She also has minors in political science and psychology.

“It was a very, very positive experience for me – I really like doing things that are out of my element,” Laschever added. She wrestled for the Boxers her freshman year but found it wasn’t a good fit.

“I discovered that if I wanted to be a successful wrestler at the collegiate level I’d have to forfeit a lot of other things,” she pointed out.

She poured her time and energy into her studies. A stellar application, along with several glowing recommendations from her professors, earned Laschever a Fulbright scholarship this spring.