Heart BEAT

A Gift For Future Nurses

A s we've all finished unwrapping our sweaters, scooters and snowboards after the recent holidays, another kind of gift must be noted.

The Baker Family, Anita and Tom, give $500 to $800 to nursing students at Walla Walla Community College. This is one of the best gifts because an education and a career never gets replaced by a newer model or goes out of style.

At last month's PEO Career Tea at Waitsburg High School, Anita Baker pitched this scholarship to the students in attendance. First and foremost, the scholarship is meant for Waitsburg students, if any apply, Anita said.

The scholarship, the Amalia Greenwald Baker/ Peggy Baker Henry Scholarship in Nursing has been provided to second-year nursing students at the college since 1988 through the Blue Mountain Community Foundation. The amount given depends on the financial markets, Anita said. It is given to two second-year students at the college every year.

The scholarship was created by the Bakers because Amalia Greenwald Baker, Tom's mother, was a nurse most of her life.

"It was to honor her," Anita said.

Amalia was a nurse from about 1916 or 1917 to 1980, Anita said.

Amalia Baker "Molly" was barn in Frank, Russia, in 1901. She came with her German family to a Colorado farm, and went to work in town after completing the eighth grade because her parents believed women weren't likely to benefit from further education.

She worked with a registered nurse, Miss Iva Dyar, to convert a sugar factory dormitory into a hospital, which served Fort Morgan, Colo., for 35 years until a new hospital was built.

She worked as a nurse in the hospital and as a special nurse with private patients all of her life. She attended night school and proudly received her LPN certification when she was 56 years old.

Amalia Baker died in 1988.

Peggy Henry, the Bakers' daughter, obtained her nursing degree at Walla Walla Community College in 1976. She then attended Washington State University and obtained her master's degree at Heritage University.

Now age 56, Henry has worked with newborns and in obstetrics and has been a school nurse in the Tri Cities for the Pasco and Kennewick School Districts.

"(To be a nurse) was her choice from childhood," Anita said of her daughter. "She decided to become a nurse because of her grandmother."

Tom Baker was one of the first members of the board of directors of the college and that Henry attended the school, Anita said it was the perfect place for the family to offer the gift for students.

"Molly would be pleased to know that her named scholarship has been a help to educate many who desire to work in the service she loved," Tom Baker said.

Anita tells Waitsburg students about the scholarship each year at the career tea to make sure Waitsburger's apply for it. Some years, no students from Waitsburg apply for the money, but the money always goes to those deserving, she said.

The $ 500-$ 800 will help tremendously with the costs of the program at the college.

The program's website describes the estimated costs of the nursing program as about $1,050 to $2,340 per quarter.

But, to help pay for the program, there are two other scholarships specific to the college called the James Borgman Scholarship in Nursing and the LaRue Rice Memorial Scholarship and Special Needs Assistance in Nursing.

Nursing students can also check out the Washington State Nurses' Foundation and www.nursingscholarships.org for more opportunities for financial assistance.

The college's nursing program is accredited and boasts some pretty astounding statistics. According to its website, 70 percent of nursing students in Walla Walla Community College's program will have a practical nursing or associate's degree in nursing after four years.

And 90 percent of students will be employed in nursing and or enrolled in a bachelor's degree program within six months of graduation.

Anita said she doesn't know of anyone else in her family yet who will follow in the nursing footsteps of her mother-in-law and daughter.

But, she would sure like to see Waitsburg students receive their scholarship. She said students need to remember that scholarships aren't just given to those who deserve them. Students need to apply.

For more information about scholarships, students can see their school counselors or advisers.