All to Pursue Higher Education Leading to Healthcare Careers
Arroyo Grande Community Hospital’s (AGCH) Auxiliary and Foundation recently awarded four local high school students each a $500 college scholarship totaling $2000. The awards were handed out at a special breakfast, in honor of the recipients and their families, on Wednesday, June 24, 2009 at the hospital.
All four of the students who received scholarships from the hospital have worked at as student volunteers or “Volunteens”. Three of the scholarship winners are 2009 graduating seniors from Arroyo Grande High School; Allison Portney, who will attend UCLA this Fall along with Lorna McCarthy, a freshman this year at Sonoma State, both of whom hope to become physicians, and Kaele Morrow, who begins college this Fall at San Diego State. Morrow will also pursue a career in nursing. A fourth student, Grace Allen, graduated from Arroyo Grande High School in 2008 and has already completed one year of the nursing program at the University of San Francisco.
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In order to be eligible for a scholarship from the Arroyo Grande Community Hospital Auxiliary, students must volunteer at the hospital at least 100 hours and plan to pursue a career in the health care industry. “We’re so proud of these students,” said Montisa Phelan Lopez, AGCH Foundation Executive Director and Auxiliary Director. “All of these girls have volunteered a lot of hours to the hospital and they still manage to keep up their grades at school. They’re amazing!”
Since 1973, the Arroyo Grande Community Hospital Auxiliary has awarded college scholarships to deserving local students. In the first year, when the scholarship program began, one $50 grant was given to one high school student. Now a member of Catholic Healthcare West (CHW), AGCH offers several employer-supported programs to encourage higher education for all hospital employees. The Auxiliary’s role now is to raise scholarship funds for local high school students that are or have been student volunteers with the hospital. The Auxiliary raises money for scholarships from the Auxiliary-run hospital gift shop, golf tournament “mulligan” sales, scrub sales, strawberry cheesecake sales at the Arroyo Grande Strawberry Festival, holiday boutique sales and more.
Local high school students who would like to become a “Volunteen” at Arroyo Grande Community Hospital, and become eligible for college scholarships, can contact Jan Koester, AGCH Auxiliary Liaison at (805) 994-5462. For more information about the AGCH Auxiliary and volunteering opportunities, contact Anna Scott, AGCH Media Relations and Communications Manager at (805) 473-7695.
