V.S. high school students receive scholarships

Two Valley Stream students were among six area high school students who were awarded scholarships from South Nassau Communities Hospital on July 28.

North High School student Jonathan Kwan, of Franklin Square, and Central High School student Jessica Massiah, of Valley Stream, each received scholarship funds between $250 and $1,000 from the hospital’s Dorothy M. Sharer Scholarship. The amount awarded to each was not provided.

Kwan, Massiah and four others contributed a combined 971 hours of volunteer service at the hospital. Kwan started as a junior volunteer in July 2012, and worked mostly at the messenger desk, delivering supplies to different units and departments and helping visitors find their way. He is set to attend Binghamton University in the fall, where he plans to major in biomedical engineering.

Massiah joined the hospital as a junior volunteer in June 2013, and served at the messenger desk and the SIBSPlace program in Hewlett. She will attend CUNY Queens College in the fall.

The scholarship is named for a woman who devoted more than 30 years of volunteer service to the hospital. Recipients emulate Sharer’s traits and demonstrate a desire to pursue degrees that would prepare them for careers in healthcare.

“Each scholarship recipient embodies Dorothy’s spirit of selflessness and the joy she received from working with and helping others,” said Anne Marie Fernandez, the hospital’s director of volunteer services. “The scholarship recipients, as well as their fellow junior volunteers, are commended for their good works in support of the hospital and its patients.”