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Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph..
Partly cloudy early followed by cloudy skies overnight. Low 73F. Winds SSW at 10 to 15 mph.
Scholarship recipients Elleana Bennett (front), Kyle Reese (second from front), Trista Anderson (second from back) and Marley Heins (back) pose in front of Newman Regional Health Monday. Recipient Kaylen Hart is not pictured.
Scholarship recipients Elleana Bennett (front), Kyle Reese (second from front), Trista Anderson (second from back) and Marley Heins (back) pose in front of Newman Regional Health Monday. Recipient Kaylen Hart is not pictured.
The Newman Regional Health Auxiliary awarded scholarships to five area students pursuing degrees in the field of health care Monday morning.
The scholarship recipients met with auxiliary members in the hospital’s Sunflower Room to share their appreciation and plans for the future.
Kyle Reese, an incoming freshman at Barton Community College in Great Bend, Kan., will study sports medicine.
“I’ve just been an athlete my whole life and when I’ve gotten hurt I’ve went and seen doctors that help me out tremendously, and I’ve looked up to that my whole life,” Reese said. “I want to help people and through sports is probably the best way I know how to do that.”
“It’s going to help me out a lot, basically throughout my whole schooling and everything,” he said. “It’s not going to be cheap, especially with my career route where I have to do a Bachelor’s degree and then possibly a Master’s degree, and then med school. Any money that I can get will help me out later on.”
“I’m incredibly honored,” Reese added
Trista Anderson, a junior at Emporia State University, is on route to becoming a nurse practitioner.
“I am really passionate about caring for people and I think that this is something that I am going to really like doing for the rest of my life,” Anderson said. “I feel really honored. I put a lot of work into my scholarship so I was really excited when I got it.”
“I think it will help out mostly for having more money to spend for books and stuff like that instead of having to put all of my money towards tuition,” she added.
After she graduates, Anderson hopes to work at Children’s Mercy before going back to school to become a nurse practitioner.
Elleana Bennett, an incoming freshman at the University of Kansas, aspires to be a dentist.
“I knew I wanted to be interacting with patients and creating relationships with someone but I didn’t want to necessarily be involved in life-saving surgeries,” Bennett said.
Bennett has been interning with Dr. Kerri Thompson of Thompson Family Dental in Emporia.
“I go in there for a couple hours a week and just watch her interact with patients and work on their teeth and stuff and kind of just learn and watch about how she runs stuff,” she said. “[Dr. Thompson] talks to me about the business side of things, paying for equipment, paying your employees, things like that.”
Being selected for the scholarship will help her with paying for the higher price of KU.
“I go to a bigger school than the other recipients and so it’s harder to get recognized for things and there’s a lot of competition, and it definitely does help,” Bennett said.
Marley Heins, a sophomore at ESU, has plans to become a nurse.
“I had a bunch of aunts and cousins that were nurses and I always liked hanging out with them and hearing their stories,” Heins said. “I also really like helping people … I think it will be a good fit.”
Heins has been working at Newman Regional Health for the past year as an aide in the rehabilitation unit. She said receiving the scholarship has felt amazing.
“I’m just really appreciative of all the generous people in our community that make this possible for students like myself and these other candidates,” she said.
Kaylen Hart, an ESU student studying physical therapy, was not able to attend.
Each student will receive $1,000 each semester for the academic year, totaling a one-time $2,000 scholarship. The scholarship is available to students in Lyon, Chase, Morris, Osage and Coffey Counties at any stage of their education, from high school to doctorate.
This year, the auxiliary board received nine applications, a number they had to narrow down to five recipients.
“It’s so refreshing to see these kids come out and apply and … to meet them in person, they were excellent candidates and well qualified and full of potential,” Newman Regional Health volunteer board scholarship chair Marcia Law said.
Each applicant is required to submit a resume, letters of recommendation, and a personal essay and are evaluated on a point system.
“When you have so many kids that are 4.0 [GPA] … most of them are well qualified grade-wise, so it’s just a way of helping us,” Law said.
“Their personal essays were, to me, very meaningful,” board president Lynn Lang said.
The funds for the scholarship are generated through various means thanks to the help of over 80 active volunteers.
“Gift shop, snack bar, fundraisers we do at Christmas time, we call it Cookies for Clause but it’s all kinds of baked goods,” Linda Polson, board secretary, said to name a few.
“We also, sadly, this year have gotten several memorials that have gone into the scholarship fund,’’ Deborah Storrer, volunteer coordinator added. “It’s very gracious.”
According to The Gazette archives, the Newman Regional Health Auxiliary has provided more than 100 scholarships since its founding in 1955. It has given more than $100,000 in scholarships since 2012.
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