VNA Scholarship Awarded To WestConn Junior

Chelsea Fowler of Newtown, who is about the enter her junior year at Western Connecticut State University, was presented with a scholarship check by the Newtown Visiting Nurse Association on June 22.

“I decided to become a nurse after beginning my EMT course when I was 15,” said Chelsea, a former chief for Newtown Volunteer Ambulance Junior Corps. “I got a taste of medicine and realized I couldn’t live without it.

“Nursing runs in my family,” she continued. “Both of my grandmothers were nurses.”

Chelsea has made Dean’s List each of the four semesters she has been at WestConn so far. She is a 2008 graduate of Newtown High School.

She has been an EMT since 2006, and is a student nurse tech at St Raphael’s Hospital in New Haven. She would like to someday be an emergency room nurse, and is also considering future work with hospice.

Additional Scholarships Available

Since 1972 the Newtown Visiting Nurse Association has awarded $111,250 to graduating high school seniors who reside in Newtown and are entering the field of nursing.

The VNA offers three scholarships each year: The Anna E. Clow Scholarship in the amount of $4,000; The Newtown Visiting Nurse Association Scholarship, also in the amount of $4,000; and The Janice B. Von Syckle Scholarship, a $2,500 award.

The Clow Scholarship is for a student entering a program leading to a BSN or RN.

The Van Syckle Scholarship is available to a student entering a program leading to a BSN. Both scholarships are awarded to the recipient when he or she has entered the clinical portion of the nursing program, at least into the second year of their nursing education.

Another scholarship offered by the group, The Mary Holian Scholarship, a $4,000 award, is available to Newtown residents returning to school for a nursing degree (RN, or registered nurse), bachelor of science in nursing (BSN), master of science in nursing (MSN), or degree of nurse practitioner (APRN).

Applicants must be entering at least their second year of training, provided they have completed their first year within the past five years, or have changed their college major to nursing and are entering their second year and clinical studies of training.

For scholarship information contact Sally Schwerdtle, Scholarship Chairman, c/o The Newtown VNA Scholarship Committee, Edmond Town Hall, 45 Main Street, Newtown CT 06470. Mrs Schwerdtle can also be reached by calling 203-268-8333.