The largest cohort in the Community Healthcare Scholarship’s 12-year history recently celebrated the program’s phenomenal success and the addition of 15 more Yavapai College Nursing and Radiology students to its recipient roster.
The fall 2024 recipients of the full-tuition scholarship, the result of the longstanding generosity of area healthcare organizations, community foundations and individual philanthropists, are:
YC Radiology students: Christopher Cox and Megan Leiss.
YC Nursing students: Ryan Contreras, Paris Dera, Luke Gale, Nicole Garcia, Michael Gonzales, Daisy Hacker, Doreen Kiyaani, Sarah Lawrence, Leigh Ann Lopez, Pilar Lopez, Erika Moore, Raven Paccioni and Rebecca Marie Renti-Cruz.
The partners in the Community Healthcare Scholarship Program are: the Yavapai College Foundation, the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Prescott, the Margaret T. Morris Foundation, Dignity Health/Yavapai Regional Medical Center, the Harold James Family Trust, Prescott Radiology Group, Fain Signature Group, Beck Legacy Group, and Mike and Tammy Fann.
The scholarship program’s 20th and largest cohort was feted Aug. 28 during a celebration at the YC Prescott campus featuring congratulatory and inspirational speeches, the scholarship program’s origin story, and the presentation of engraved stethoscopes to the nursing students and markers to the radiology students.
Recounting the origin story, Dr. David Hess, a retired cardiologist and the Community Healthcare partners’ spokesman, shared that the late philanthropist Seymour Baskin of Prescott, was the catalyst in 2012 when he inquired with the Jewish Community Foundation of Greater Prescott about investing in healthcare and education in the community. A retired attorney and U.S. Navy veteran who was raised in an orphanage during the Great Depression, Mr. Baskin donated anonymously to many education causes throughout his life, including his former orphanage. His estate granted Hess permission to use his name and honor his legacy for the first time to address the 20th Community Healthcare Scholarship cohort. Hess paid tribute to Mr. Baskin and the scholarship program’s partners as the strongest of healthcare and education advocates. “They know how to choose students that can do this work, that’s why the graduation rate is so high…,” Hess said. “You can do the work. It will be hard, but you have family and a great school to support you…You can do this work and two years from now I want to watch each of you graduate.”
The Community Healthcare Scholarship Program’s success is evident in the 215 scholarships awarded to date resulting in a 93-percent program completion rate and the fact that 90 percent of program graduates are pursuing their careers locally, said Mary Talosi, Executive Director of the Yavapai College Foundation. Acknowledging that “the bar has been set” by their predecessors, Talosi reminded the newest Community Healthcare scholars that the program’s donors – most of whom attended the celebration -- are 100 percent in their corner. “They believe in you. They care about you and they want you to succeed.”
Other celebration speakers emphasized the uniqueness of the Community Healthcare partnership and the support recipients receive from day 1 of their education journeys.
“This is the best thing that I have ever seen in all of my years in higher education, in nursing and in the community college system,” Dr. Marylou Mercado, YC Vice President of Workforce Development and Health Sciences, said of the healthcare scholarship. “It is the greatest gift that you all have received. I know you worked hard for it and you have very much earned it or you wouldn’t be sitting here today.”
Dr. Barbara Durham, Associate Dean of Nursing at YC, said the road ahead for the scholarship recipients won’t be easy, will likely be bumpy, but that college leaders, faculty and staff stand ready to smooth the way. “It’s really important to know when to ask for help, more importantly to give yourself permission to ask for help,” she said.
Tracy Rogers, Director of Radiology at YC, expressed deep gratitude to the scholarship donors saying, “your generosity has had a profound impact on our students’ lives and it’s not just about the financial support, it’s about the belief that you’ve shown in these students and their potential.”
Tracy McCollum, Chief Nursing Officer at Dignity Health/YRMC and a member of the YCF Executive Board, gave the nursing and radiology students powerful encouragement, telling them, “we want to hire every one of you. We really do need to continue to bump up our workforce in healthcare and especially here in the communities we serve.”
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. For information about the YC Radiology Program, visit www.yc.edu/radiology.
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
