The 2020 Scholarship Winner

 

Tamyah Patterson-Stewart

Holy Family University
Award: $1,500
July 15, 2020

We are pleased to announce Tamyah Patterson-Stewart as the winner of The 2020 ABC Fundraising Volunteer Recognition Scholarship for $1,500.

Tamyah, who attends Girard College and will be going to Holy Family University, was selected from a pool of over 150 candidates. Candidates had to submit an essay detailing volunteer work and a volunteer verification form.

Tamyah composed an inspiring essay about how she developed a class for teaching CPR.

Congratulations, Tamyah! 

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Tamyah’s Winning Essay:

 

Helping out in the community is something that I have been interested in since I was 8 years old.

My passion to help my community came from learning about my family’s medical conditions; heart disease and high blood pressure. If there was ever an instance where a family member’s life was in danger, I wanted to be able to help them in the best way possible. I realized that I could help my family and my community by teaching CPR. This led me to aspire to be a nurse as well. 

 

While doing my research I found out how many people didn’t know that they could learn CPR in 30 minutes and it could actually save someone’s life.

In the summer of 12th grade I got re-certified in CPR and created a program to teach CPR to at least 50 people. 

 

I did my internship at JFK Medical Center; the administration and medical staff were very supportive of my plan to teach CPR.

All I needed now was to figure out my supplies. I was certain that anyone would feel the same way about learning CPR, regardless of  their family having heart problems or not. Being CPR certified 3 times I was confident that I would be able to teach what I knew to others.

I contacted Deputy Chief Micheal Touchstone to see about borrowing mannequins and received over 50 American Heart Association Family and Friend CPR kits that I gave to attendees who came in and learned CPR. This allowed them to take home and share/teach their family and friends.

This project took me over 90 hours but I really enjoyed it. It also helped me solidify my decision to become a pediatric nurse.