This year the Oregon Chapter scholarship program has awarded 6 deserving students with scholarships thanks to a very special organization called Caddies 4 A Cure! Without the Caddies efforts, the chapter would not be able to provide scholarships to these students. The scholarship awards ranged between $1,000 and $3,000. Recipients were selected based on academic performance, financial need, volunteer and extracurricular activities as well as the highly weighted essays they wrote about the impact MS has had on their lives.
Nationwide the National MS Society received 846 scholarship applications this year. The Oregon Chapter received 15 applications. All the initial applications were reviewed and ranked by ACT and then formally submitted to the chapter’s Scholarship Committee for final selection.
If you are interested in giving to the Scholarship Fund, please contact Ann Berryman at 503-445-8358 to learn more about making a donation to the Oregon Chapter Scholarship Program.
Meet our 2012 Scholars:
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Anna Finke of Dallas, OR is a senior at Dallas High School. Anna wants to study Social Work. In the long run my mother’s MS has been beneficial to me. It has forced me to see the world from a real-life perspective. It forced me not to be like many - self-centered – teens because it showed me I had to be selfless. Life was not about what I wanted, it was about what my mother needed.” |
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Megan Nelson of Jefferson, OR and a senior from Cascade High School. Megan wants to study Nursing. "My mother has been working overtime every other weekend to get the bills paid. This stress and pressure affects everyone, not just my mother. We all fear that this stress will affect her MS. So I try my hardest to do whatever I can. I am currently working part time getting paid minimum wage. I give my mother $50 a month to help with bills, food, or gas.” |
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Samantha Ottosen of Springfield, OR and a senior from Thurston High School. Samantha wants to get her certification as a nursing assistant. “At age 14 I didn’t understand how this happened. The doctors told us it was a pre-existing genetic condition. You’re born with MS, and some people don’t show any signs until later in life. I became so angry at the world. I was so angry that this disease took my mom from me, she was always tired, and she became very moody and was always sick.” |
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Hannes Zetzsche of Reedsport, OR and a senior from Reedsport Community Charter School. Hannes has not yet decided on his course of study. “My father lives with his illness every hour of every day, and the way he perseveres amazes me, however his illness does have an effect on my family and me. Because of my dad’s physical limitation, the household’s physical labor usually falls to me. I stack, chop, and carry wood for the woodstove. For gutters, yard work and house maintenance projects, I’m the go-to guy.” |
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Jacob Gross of Grants Pass, OR and a senior at Grants Pass High School. Jacob wants to study Engineering. “It was March of 2006 when my dad was diagnosed with MS and the impact it has had on me has been enormous. I was terrified that there was a possibility I could lose my father, or at least his ability to do things with me at such a young age. Since he is a teacher at my high school he asked me to not tell anyone about his condition. This was extremely hard for me because I didn’t have the opportunity to vent or talk about my feelings on this matter with anyone |
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Isabel Goni-McAteer of Corvallis, OR and a senior of Corvallis High School. Isabel wants to study Mechanical Engineering. “The disease has affected the whole family. My mom does her best; she always tries to be there to support us and love us, but sometimes she cannot. My sister, dad, and I get along fine when she is sick, but she feels like she is letting us down, not being a good enough mom.” |