TMH Foundation Scholarships Set Students on a Medical Path

WARREN, Ohio – Not all of the recipients of this year’s Trumbull Memorial Health Foundation scholarships will come back and practice medicine in the Mahoning Valley and Patrick Wilson, the foundation’s chairman, is OK with that.

What’s important is that they’re addressing the needs of the communities they serve, wherever that may be. Across the country, medical professionals are needed across the spectrum, from nurses to doctors, from pediatrics to geriatrics and from New York City to Anchorage.

“We know that health-care fields offer attractive pay and benefits. But these jobs also offer the opportunity for each of you to make a difference every day in the life of those who need quality care,” he told the 13 scholarship recipients at a ceremony Friday morning.

The recipients were chosen based on their academic achievements, their community service and “their decision to study one particular health-care field,” Wilson said.

“We see a great future for all of them,” he continued. “It’s critical that more people go into those fields and we hope that our seed money will foster their interest and pay for their schooling. Then maybe one day they’ll return to their community.”

The students noted that going to college is expensive, doubly so for medical school and postgraduate degrees. Even having something like a one-year, $2,000 scholarship helps out.

“To know that I have $2,000 offsetting that is comforting, peace of mind and a free pocket,” said Caleb Hineman, a LaBrae High School graduate.

This fall, Hineman will attend Ohio State University to pursue a nursing degree while minoring in political science.

“I’ve always had a passion for political science and I’d like to apply that to the medical field and be able to put two and two together to make some changes,” he said.

The scholarship isn’t just for soon-to-be college freshman. Students can reapply every year that they’re in a medicine-related college program, a category three of this year’s recipients fall into, among them Olivia Woods, a 2015 Warren G. Harding High School graduate enrolled at Miami University.

“Every college is expensive and every scholarship helps. It’s helping get me to where I want to be and, obviously, medical school is a huge expense,” she said. “Not having to pay as much for undergrad is a big help.”

The other scholarship winners are:

• Melissa Baker, Hubbard High School, studying medical laboratory science at Ohio State University
• Anna Bodo, Mineral Ridge High School, nursing at Chatham University
• Madelyn DelBene, Girard High School, biology at Duquesne University
• Jasmine Hickey, Bristol High School, nursing at Kent State University at Trumbull
• Emily Marscio, Girard, biological science and pre-med at Youngstown State University
• Michael Massucci, Howland High School, nursing at Walsh University
• Courtani Richardson, Warren Harding, biochemistry at Ohio State University
• Ashley Sembach, Newton Fall High School, biology and pre-physical therapy at Ohio State University
• Ella Simcox, Brookfield High School, nursing at YSU
• Amy Sowers, LaBrae High School, nursing at Mercy College of Ohio
• Jessica Wylie, Hubbard High School, neuroscience at Westminster College

The Trumbull Memorial Health Foundation was formed in 2012 as a successor to the Trumbull Memorial Hospital Foundation. It is an affiliate of the Community Foundation of the Mahoning Valley.

Pictured: The 13 recipients of the Trumbull Memorial Health Foundation scholarships were honored at a breakfast Friday morning. They’re joined by the foundation’s board members.

Copyright 2024 The Business Journal, Youngstown, Ohio.