The latter group are among those who are truly at risk of falling through the cracks, because there is a very narrow gap between having “too much money” to qualify and having enough money to afford a college education. Still others earn too much money to qualify for financial aid. Their prior degrees render them ineligible for financial aid. Some hold prior degrees and are retooling for healthcare careers. By the time nursing students reach their second year, many who initially did qualify for financial aid have exhausted their eligibility, due to the number of credits they have taken completing prerequisites and first-year classes.

Reed’s family, who established the scholarship to honor her fifty-plus years as a registered nurse, wanted the scholarship to go to an academically-talented applicant who was not able to qualify for financial aid. The Doris Reed scholarship is particularly important and valuable for NPC’s nursing students. I wanted to feel the way she made me feel for the rest of my life.” Meagan’s dedication to preparing for her chosen profession is evidenced by the fact that she has maintained a 4.0 grade point average, while working part-time, going to college full-time, and raising four children with her husband, who works two jobs. When I heard this lifelong nurse tell me, for the first time, what it really meant to be a nurse I felt my heart truly swell in a way that had never happened to me before when considering a future career. She spoke of the trust that is placed in the profession and the compassion needed to care for people when they are most vulnerable. What I do remember is that she spoke of the nature of nurses and her love for her career and her patients. It just so happened that our instructor was out of town and the Dean of Nursing was substituting for her that day. If I couldn't handle nursing assisting, I didn't know that I was cut out to be a nurse. I was taking the certified nursing assistant class and I truly viewed this class as a make-it -or break-it class.

Meagan wrote in her scholarship essay of her passion for the chosen field: ' I will always remember my first day of nursing education.

Inspired by the life-threatening, pre-term birth of her own child, Meagan aspires to earn a master’s degree to become a Certified Midwife or Nurse Practitioner. Meagan will complete her Associate Degree in Nursing in May, after which she hopes to enter a residency program with Summit Healthcare Regional Medical Center. Meagan Rogers, a second-year nursing student at the White Mountain Campus in Show Low, will receive $1,000 for the Spring 2021 semester, which will be her last at Northland Pioneer College. NPC Friends and Family is pleased to announce the very first winner of the Doris Reed Nursing and Allied Health Scholarship.

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