Tuscora Park Health and Wellness Foundation Celebrates Nursing Students

(July 10, 2024, Barberton, Ohio) — Tuscora Park Health and Wellness Foundation (TPHWF) awarded $35,000 to 7 nursing students on Tuesday, July 9, 2024. Members of the Foundation’s board of governors and donors joined the students and their families for a celebratory scholarship luncheon at LaLa’s in the Lakes. Guest speaker, Karen Fitzgerald, a professor in the University of Akron School of Nursing, spoke to the group. Fitzgerald encouraged the students to focus their efforts on the whole person, emphasizing connection, empathy, and dignity as worthy values in the nursing field.

Board member Mary Jo Goss thanked everyone for attending and shared her best wishes for the students on behalf of the Foundation. “I am sure you will all go far,” she said. “It is reassuring to see all of your enthusiasm, compassion, and dedication to nursing. I wish you well in your journeys, and hope you stay in touch with all of us.”

 Each of these students is pursuing a Registered Nursing degree.

Tuscora Park Health and Wellness Foundation is proud introduce the 2024 scholarship recipients:

• Molly Cunningham, a senior attending Kent State University at Stark and BHS graduate, received a Kovalchin Memorial Scholarship and a Tuscora Park Health and Wellness Nursing Scholarship.
• Julia Davenport, a junior attending The University of Akron Wayne Campus, received a Kovalchin Memorial Scholarship and a Tuscora Park Health and Wellness Nursing Scholarship.
• Hayden Graffice, a senior attending the University of Mount Union; received a Tuscora Park Health and Wellness Nursing Scholarship.
• Mary Beth Kiss, a senior attending the University of Akron, received a Scholarship in Memory of Emma Rist, RN, and a Tuscora Park Health and Wellness Nursing Scholarship.
• Mary Krege, a BHS graduate attending Malone University, received a Carol A. Storad Nursing Excellence Scholarship and a Tuscora Park Health and Wellness Nursing Scholarship.
• Christina Maldonado, a senior attending Kent State University and BHS graduate, received a Kovalchin Memorial Scholarship, the Christine Elaine Weigand RN Memorial Scholarship, and a Tuscora Park Health and Wellness Nursing Scholarship.
• Saedie Suboticki, attending The University of Akron Wayne Campus and BHS graduate, received a Kovalchin Memorial Scholarship.

About the scholarships:

The Bernadine H. Kovalchin, R.N. Scholarship honors Kovalchin, who was an RN at Barberton Citizens Hospital with 13 years’ service, leaving in 1971 as Assistant Coordinator of Nursing Education. She was a longtime local high school instructor of Vocational Medical Careers Training and worked as a school nurse.

The committee annually recognizes another commendable nurse through the scholarship in honor of Emma Rist, R.N., who was a catalyst for the creation of a Coronary Care Unit and then head nurse of the CCU at Barberton Citizens Hospital. Rist was very dedicated to the nursing profession and a visionary for advancements in nursing.

The Carol A. Storad Nursing Excellence Award recognizes an exemplary woman who began as a staff nurse and retired as Chief Nursing Officer at Barberton Citizens Hospital, serving for 43-years total. After retiring she taught high school students interested in pursuing a nursing career as part of a four-city compact program and was affiliated with The University of Akron.

The Christine Elaine Weigand RN Memorial Scholarship is meant to help future nurses overcome obstacles and to achieve their dreams. She was an extraordinary clinician who spent 30 years as an RN, working as a charge nurse, as a preceptor for new RN employees, and as a care manager on the 5100 unit and in the emergency room at Akron General Medical Center (now Cleveland Clinic Akron General). She was active in National Association of Orthopedic Nurses (NAON) and was honored with an Excellence in Nursing award during Nurses Week in 2002.

About TPHWF

Founded in 1997, the Tuscora Park Health and Wellness Foundation is proud to invest in the education of future nurses and in projects that promote health and wellness in our community. 

Mission statement: the Tuscora Park Health and Wellness Foundation promotes wellness and helps extend health care, medical and educational services and opportunities to the residents of Summit County and contiguous counties.