Verde Valley News – A top-of-the-line stethoscope engraved with their name was the icing on the cake for eight first-year Yavapai College nursing students whose tuition has been erased by the lucrative Community Healthcare Scholarship.
The stethoscope was an additional gift bestowed on the student nurses during a Jan. 29 reception in their honor. The reception, the engraved stethoscopes and the Community Healthcare scholarships are traditions dating to 2011 — the year the late Seymour Baskin and his late wife, Sandy, provided the initial funding for the scholarship in partnership with the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Prescott and the Yavapai College Foundation.
With the support of additional community partners in the intervening years, the scholarship program has erased $1.7 million worth of tuition for a total of 216 YC nursing and radiologic technology students to date.
The latest recipients of the generous scholarship are, Janet Acosta, Taliea R. Bice, Elizabeth D. Bojorquez, Tristan W. Cluff, Ruth A. Lusk, Talia R. Peralta, Danielle R. Swartz and Kyle “Zack” Z. Szekely.
Along with the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Prescott and the Yavapai College Foundation, Community Healthcare Scholars program partners are, Fain Signature Group, Mike and Tammy Fann, Harold James Family Trust, Dignity Health Yavapai Regional Medical Center, Margaret T. Morris Foundation, Beck Legacy Group and Prescott Radiologists LLP.
In her congratulatory remarks during the reception, YC Vice President of Health Sciences and Workforce Development Dr. Marylou Mercado told the scholars she has no doubt they will succeed in school and in their careers. “Keep striving, keep learning and most importantly keep caring.” She expressed heartfelt gratitude to the Community Healthcare Scholarship partners saying, “your generosity is shaping the future of healthcare one scholar at a time.”
Dr. David Hess, President of the board for the Jewish Community Foundation, shared with the newest scholars and their loved ones at the reception the story of the program’s founding, tracing it back to Seymour Baskin’s life growing up in an orphanage, his military service during World War II and his success as an attorney and developer. Hess said Baskin never forgot the generosity and kindness shown to him in his impoverished youth and was passionate about giving back to the communities where he lived, worked and retired.
Hess told the latest beneficiaries of Baskin’s philanthropy they will be challenged in nursing school. “As you go through this program, you need to remember every day when you get a little down, when you get tired, when you get behind in your studies, this community is behind you. We all want you to succeed and reach your goals.”
For information about scholarship giving opportunities through the Yavapai College Foundation, visit www.yc.edu/ycf.
For information about the YC nursing program, which now offers both associate and bachelor’s degrees in nursing, visit www.yc.edu/nursing.
Yavapai College operates six campuses and centers throughout Yavapai County and offers more than 100 degrees and certificates, two baccalaureate degrees, student and community services, and cultural events and activities.
To learn more about YC, visit www.yc.edu