The Mature Women Scholarship Committee, led by Carol Kurland, has announced this year’s winners of the Peter and Kurland-Toney scholarships. The winners each receive a $1,500 scholarship for the Fall Semester 2019, renewable for Spring 2020 if they maintain good academic standing.

The Judith Peter Scholarship, which is awarded to a student planning on entering the medical profession, went to Natalie Tull. Natalie received the award two times last year, but the committee decided to give it to her once again to allow her to finish her AA degree, which she will receive in May 2020.

Natalie, who you may remember from last year’s “Meet, Greet, and Eat” brunch, is 32 and a single mother. She has two children; aged ten and six. Her GPA is 3.8 in nursing. She is currently taking nine credits. Her plan is to take the State Boards immediately after graduating and enroll in Penn State to obtain her Bachelor’s degree. P.S.U. has a bridge program with BCCC. Then she says that, while working as a nurse in a local hospital, she will take classes toward her Master’s degree. Future plans are to become a clinical instructor.

She works now as a home health aide. She’s very involved in activities at Bucks. A National Honor society member, she’s been training for Executive leadership. Also an officer in Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, she has helped plan several community service projects, such a cancer fundraiser, holiday food drives, and a group called Addictions Victorious to help women who are affected by addictions.

The Amy Kurland Toney Scholarship went to Shannon Walsh. She is 37 and single mother of three children, ages eight, five and two. Her GPA is 3.5, and she is scheduled to take 16 credits this term. A first year student in Liberal Arts, history is her major. She says her goal is law so that she can respond to women who are changing their lives. Shannon has had a difficult life having been crippled by addiction and alcoholism until age 26 when she entered recovery. She now has had 11 years of continuous sobriety. Her father died when she was three from alcoholism and her mother was mentally ill her entire life. They lived in poverty. Shannon was in foster care until her sister took custody when she was nine. Her mother died a year ago suddenly from an aneurysm and her sister committed suicide this past August, both devastating to Shannon. She parted from the father of her children when she realized that it was an unhealthy relationship.

The scholarship will give her the opportunity to prove herself after working so hard to reach this point with such a difficult background.