NRH Auxiliary awards $12,750 in scholarships

2018 Mar 20

The Newman Regional Health Auxiliary has awarded $12,750 to 17 college students pursuing educations in health care.

Madison Anderson, Emily Samuels, Alexa Thomas, Mary Turner, Margaret Clark, Matthew Finley, Macrae Wilkins, Ivy Ables, Abby Ables, Abby Maycock, Colleen Smith, Kortnie Harrison, Daryn Crawford, Lindsee Colglazier, Landrie Whitson, Kelly Flowers and Codi Wentzel each received $750 from the auxiliary to help with education expenses for the Spring 2018 semester.

"This year we had 26 applicants and we ended up awarding scholarships to 17 of those applicants," Hospital Volunteer and Social Media Coordinator Jessie Wagoner said. "Several of the applicants that applied are still in high school, and since this is a semester-by-semester scholarship, we encourage those who didn't get a scholarship this round to please apply again next semester because they will be eligible then."

Abby Maycock is majoring in nursing at Emporia State University. Maycock said the scholarship will take some pressure off of her as she moves toward finishing her degree.

"It definitely helps a lot, and it kind of takes a little bit of the stress off so you have more time to focus on school," she said. "I won't have to work as much, so I'm looking forward to really focusing on school. I'm really honored."

Maycock said she wanted to go into nursing in order to help people, as well as the opportunity to work in an always-changing environment.

"I knew I definitely really wanted to be in the helping field and I've always sort of leaned toward the medical area," she said. "Really, I just wanted to do something that was different every day and that was hands on. I didn't want to be stuck in an office. I really want to be with people and help them out."

Lebo native Ivy Ables is pursuing a graduate degree in physical therapy from Wichita State. Ables said she has one more year in the program and is looking into a career in traveling physical therapy. She said she was grateful for the scholarship.

"It's very helpful," Ables said. "Tuition for grad school is quite a bit, so I'm really thankful to be awarded this scholarship. It will definitely go toward my tuition."

Ables said she's been working toward becoming a physical therapist since a back injury several years ago.

"I had physical therapy for a back injury when I was a sophomore in high school," she said. "Ever since then I've been really driven toward physical therapy."

Wagoner said the Auxiliary is able to raise money for the scholarships through gift shop and snack bar sales, as well as extra fundraisers throughout the year.

"Our volunteers work so hard throughout the year," she said. "They work at the gift shop as well as the snack bar, which are two of our main sources of revenue to raise funds for our scholarships. They also hold various fundraisers throughout the year. A lot of that support actually comes from hospital employees, but we always invite the community in."

Wagoner said many unique items are available at the gift shop and she encourages people to stop by and check it out.

"All of that money stays here in the community either for scholarship funds or for equipment purchases for the hospital," she said.

For more information about the Newman Regional Health Auxiliary, visit www.newmanrh.org/auxiliary or contact Wagoner via email jwagoner@newmanrh.org or call 343-6800 ext. 2525.