Vales Por Dos Scholarship Winners Announced!
4th annual bowling tournament this weekend and high school scholarships to be awarded soon!!
Albuquerque, NM April 6, 2017: BEE Scholarships would like to formally acknowledge and congratulate Aaliyah Garcia and Abigail Velasquez on being selected as the first Vales Por Dos scholarship recipients!
In her essay, Abigail Velasquez clearly demonstrated the differences between and value of having a bilingual nurse, as opposed to using an interpreter. The difference can have dire outcomes. By being bilingual, a nurse can more accurately communicate with a patient in their primary language to deliver better care; Abigail clearly demonstrated this in her essay. Bilingual nurses tend to come from diverse backgrounds and having this type of background allows nurses to intricately engage with patients in ways that having a translator will not allow. “Having the knowledge, skills, and background [of being bilingual] will tremendously influence my care and interactions with patients. These elements will help to establish a patient-nurse relationship based on trust, respect, and conflict,” said Velasquez.
Aaliyah Garcia, similarly, has personal experience being bilingual. At such a young age, Garcia found caring for others appealing, a ‘calling’ of sorts. Garcia helped her aunts and mother care for younger children in the family and was exposed to medical issue at an early age. “Aprendi a una edad temprana, el concepto de disparidades de salud y lo he presenciado muchas veces. Son estas experiencias las que me han llevado a buscar una carrera impactante en enfermeria,” said Garcia. When nursing school is completed, she plans to return to her rural hometown and use her bilingual and newly acquired nursing skills to give back to her underserved community, where preeclampsia is prevalent.
We want to congratulate these two women for their work and dedication in the nursing field and for being awarded the first Vales Por Dos scholarship! We also want to specifically thank Samantha Alvidrez for the inspiration to create this scholarship. “Creating the Vales Por Dos scholarship has been such a rewarding experience, not necessarily for me but for our community,” said Alvidrez. She continued, explaining how language barriers still exist and have such a huge impact in the medical field and for nurses. “Language barriers still exist in our healthcare system and after reading the essays it is evident that these student nurses are well aware of the challenges our community and families are facing daily. I am confident that these two women and all of the other applicants are going to make an impact with their language skills. I hope this scholarship helps remove a small financial burden in order for them to focus more of their time and energy on learning and academics as they pursue this rewarding career in nursing,” continued Alvidrez.
In other news, we want to remind you of our 4th Annual Bowling Tournament to be held this Saturday April 7th at Isleta Fun Connection. All bowlers will be allowed time to warm up prior to the start of the tournament and will get three games.
WHAT: BEE Scholarships 4th Annual Bowling Tournament
WHEN: Saturday, April 7th at 2:00 PM
WHERE: Isleta Fun Connection – 11000 Broadway Blvd. SE 87105
Registration fees for the tournament have decreased this year! They are as follows:
- Individuals can bowl for $30
- Team of two, registration will be $50
- Team of three, registration will be $70
- Teams of four can register for only $90
- All kids 15 and under bowl for just $15!
Bowlers that do not have enough for a team of four will be partnered with other bowlers to complete a team, unless otherwise noted. Prizes will be awarded to all members of the winning team. The top male, female, and kid bowler (that are not part of the winning team) will also walk away with a prize!
Lastly, our fourth year for BEE’s high scholarship deadline has passed and applications are currently being viewed. We received just under 100 application requests. Scholarship recipients will be selected soon. More information on this will come soon! Stay tuned!
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