Brittany Sue Zimmermann

Family establishes Zimmermann scholarship fund

Brittany Zimmermann’s family has established a scholarship fund designed to honor her memory and assist other worthy students with educational expenses.

"Brittany wished for everyone to have the opportunity to obtain a college education regardless of their financial standing," according to her aunt, Kim Heeg.

Contributions may be sent to the “Dollars for Brittany” scholarship fund, care of the Brittany Zimmermann Memorial Fund, Marshfield Medical Center Credit Union, P.O. Box 279, Marshfield, WI 54449.

“In the days since Brittany’s tragic death, we have searched our hearts for answers that we may never receive,” she writes. “We are grieving her death and we are grieving the future events that we will never celebrate with Brittany. One event we will never celebrate with Brittany is her graduation from UW-Madison next fall.”

“Anyone who knew Brittany knew of her love for learning and her ambition and dedication to help others,” she adds. “If you knew her, you would also know of her perpetual positive attitude. We have determined that the best way to honor Brittany and her beautiful heart is to establish a scholarship fund in her name.”

Questions about donating to the fund can be directed to the Marshfield Medical Center Credit Union at (715) 387-8686.

Campus community remembers Brittany Zimmermann

More than 200 members of the University of Wisconsin-Madison community gathered Sunday, April 6 to remember the life of Brittany Zimmermann, a senior from Marshfield who was found slain April 2 in her downtown apartment.

Students, faculty and staff congregated in Memorial Union to sign a condolence message to the Zimmermann family, express their thoughts about her life and discuss campus safety. The group moved outside to Library Mall to light candles and offer a moment of silence.

Zimmermann was a third-year senior in the medical microbiology and immunology department, planning to graduate in spring 2009. After graduation, according to her personal Web page, she planned to get a master's degree in public health and a doctorate in infectious disease. She was on the Dean's List in fall 2005 and spring 2006.

Kim Heeg, Zimmermann’s aunt, says Zimmermann was active in tennis and was part of the National Honor Society while at Marshfield High School.

“She was a flute player in the high school band and had many wonderful and caring friends in Marshfield,” Heeg says. “Brittany's dream was to go to UW-Madison, and she loved her time there. She spent her first year in the dorms and made friends with all.”

Heeg says that Zimmermann and her fiancé, Jordan Gonnering, were “soul mates and planned to spend their lives together.” They were intending to get married after graduation. She was also very driven by her goals in health care.

“Brittany wanted to ‘save the world,’ so to speak,” Heeg adds. “She wanted to find miracle cures for the horrible diseases and viruses of the world. Brittany had the most caring and kind spirit of anyone you could ever meet, and she is our bright, shining star!”

Zimmermann worked for the UW-Madison registrar's office for the past three years as a part-time student employee in its imaging division. Registrar Joanne Berg says she was a bright, engaging student.

She was one of the first students hired in the imaging area, Berg says, and was instrumental in organizing the work done by other student workers. The area she worked in scans and indexes documents for later retrieval.

"She was doing a job that some may describe as fairly routine — sitting in a room and processing paper," says Berg. "She always made the best of it. She came to work with a smile on her face, she enjoyed her co-workers and was enthusiastic about work and about her future.

"The mood here is very sober," adds Berg. "Everyone is in kind of in shock. There is a lot of angst and concern."

Berg notes that Zimmermann took the past semester off to concentrate on her studies, "because she wanted to get into med school or grad school. But she continued to come around and stay in contact. This is such a tragedy."

Staff from Zimmermann's home department added that Zimmermann had a strong academic record in a very rigorous and competitive major, which focuses on infectious diseases and health.