2024 Scholarship Recipients

Brandy Challenger

Brandy is a single mother who is currently working as an RN at Blake Hospital full time. She believes that this scholarship not only will help to create a more stable and promising environment for her children, but also will  influence her children’s educational outlook.

She is currently pursuing her BSN at State College of Florida. Her ambition is to become a Nurse Practitioner blending her passion for health care with a desire to make a meaningful impact.  She aspires to provide holistic and patient-centered care, emphasizing preventative measures and health promotion .  Her college and career goals aligned toward becoming a competent and compassionate Nurse Practitioner while staying abreast of  advancements in healthcare policy and promoting evidence-based practices.

Christine Earhart

Christine is currently employed as an RN at Sarasota Memorial Hospital.  She is the mom of a 2 year old and believes that a scholarship will provide not only financial stability for her family but also allow her to focus wholeheartedly on her studies.  Her father passed away when she was 16 and she dabbled in various customer service endeavors before she realized that her desire was to help people. In 2019, she moved to Florida to focus on creating a better life for her and her family’s future.  She stated that “this nursing journey has been nothing short of amazing, and I am grateful every single day that I get to embark on it.”

Her end goal is to eventually graduate with an APRN (Advance Practice Registered Nurse).

 Janice Gendel

Janice has been a stay-at-home mom for over ten years, encouraging her children to keep learning and chasing their dreams, especially in helping others.  She started back to work full time as an RN at Sarasota Memorial. This scholarship will help her not only to meet her family’s financial needs, but also demonstrate to her children that learning and helping others is important.

Her goal is to finish her Bachelor of Nursing degree in the spring of 2025. In the future she hopes to join either the NICU or the Labor and Delivery internship program at SMH, while also supporting her daughter through her nursing program at State College of Florida.  She is not sure whether she wants to become a nursing educator at a college or university or definitely to help new nurses as a preceptor at SMH in the near future.

Kelsey Shipley

Kelsey is employed over 50 hours per week at Sarasota County Schools and the YMCA of Southwest Florida.  She is currently pursing her BS, Early Childhood Education. She is a First Generation in College student and is currently partnering with Habitat for Humanity to become a home owner. She has served as a director and assistant director of North YMCA CDC and Ivy League Early Learning Center.

Kelsey is balancing work, studies and parenting and believes that this scholarship will significantly alleviate the financial burdens she faces by allowing her to reduce her work hours and provide more time for her studies.

Her primary goal is to receive a Bachelor’s degree in Early Childhood Education.  Upon achieving this goal she hopes to become a certified teacher in the State of Florida and achieve her dream of making an impact on children’s education.