The college scholarship committee, consisting of Carol Kurland, Kathy Shaginaw, Barbara Shandelman, Linda Lackpour, and Val Monkowski, recently met to select candidates for the two scholarships—the Judith Peter and the Amy Kurland Toney. Pat Kolle and Maribeth Gentile, also members of the committee could not attend the meeting but were advised of our selections. The following Bucks County Community College students were chosen:

The Judy Peter Scholarship went to Natalie Tull of Newtown. Natalie is a single mother of two, ages four and nine, and maintains a 4.0 GPA in her nursing major. She has been invited to join the National Honor Society. In her “spare” time, she participated in two community projects with the Nursing Club, collecting book bags for needy children and canned goods for families. She is also involved in a group called Addictions Victorious, helping women deal with addiction problems. Like many AAUW members, she is an avid reader and belongs to an online book club.

Natalie receives some financial aid but it is insufficient to cover the entire cost of her tuition and it does not cover books. She has expressed interest in joining AAUW once she graduates.

Her plan after leaving Bucks is to continue nursing studies at La Salle or Penn State toward the goal of a Bachelor’s Degree in Nursing. Her ultimate goal is to become a nurse anesthetist.

The Amy Kurland Toney Scholarship went to Svetlana Savina of Feasterville. Svetlana is a business administration major with a 3.66 GPA. She is a single mother with a four and a half year old child. Svetlana moved to the USA five years ago from Moscow, Russia, and got married and then divorced. She didn’t speak English when she arrived, but the college helped.

Svetlana plans to get a bachelor’s degree in risk management (insurance underwriting) at Temple University after the associate degree. She now works full-time doing medical billing. She needs the scholarship to pay for college expenses since her sole income supports her child.

Each woman received a $1,500 scholarship for the fall semester and both have already been approved for the same amount in the spring semester having kept up their GPAs.