When Pam Liegel ’80 was a student at River Valley High School in Spring Green, Wisconsin, her mother told her, “Your education is something no one can ever take away from you.” That sentiment carried Liegel through her undergraduate studies at UW–Madison, where she majored in elementary education, met lifelong friends, and made cherished memories.
Liegel carries her mother’s words with her today as an elementary school teacher in her hometown of Plain, Wisconsin, where she inspires her students to value their education — and to love the Badgers.
“It’s been my foundation,” Liegel says. “It means the world to me. I love the UW. I love what I’ve learned here, the experiences I’ve had.”
Liegel wears her passion for both education and her alma mater on her Badger-red sleeve as an avid collector of The Red Shirt. She purchased her first Red Shirt in 2010, when that year’s design echoed a playful exclamation used in her household. (“Oh, Buckingham U!”) Upon learning that 25 percent of proceeds from The Red Shirt sales benefit scholarships for current and prospective Badgers, Liegel turned her fashion statement into a passion project.
“I learned how it gives to the students that are the future,” she says. “It’s a passion of mine because that’s my college, and it was so important to me, and I want to do that for others in just that little way.”
Liegel wore each new edition of the Red Shirt with pride, sending her husband to the University Book Store in Madison to pick up the latest design and sharing its message with her community.
“I would explain to all my friends and people I would be around, ‘This is my Red Shirt.’ And they would look at me like, ‘Yeah, it’s a Badger shirt. What’s the difference?’ ” she says. “But it’s a special Badger shirt. It’s a Red Shirt.”
Once a closet staple, Liegel’s Red Shirts are now prized possessions that she preserves with care.
“Some of them still have original tags on,” she says. “This is a treasure to keep. This is not only memorabilia. It’s special to me.”
Liegel may not witness the impact of her Red Shirts firsthand, but she believes in the promise they offer current and future Badgers, including the ones she teaches in her classroom every day. In fact, one of her former students graduated at the top of his class from her alma mater, River Valley High School, last spring, and is a freshman at the UW this fall.
Liegel only takes a little credit for that.
“It’s just the simple, little things that mean the world to me,” Liegel says. “Simple, little things such as buying a shirt.”
