May 20, 2010
Two UW students chosen as President’s Medalists
Two UW students have been chosen President’s Medalists for the Class of 2010. Diana Brosten and Jennifer Vahora were selected for this honor based on their overall academic record and not merely grade point average.
Brosten, who was on Medicaid for most of her childhood and was raised in Kalispell, Mont. by parents that do not have health insurance, can now pursue her dream of providing care for uninsured and underserved populations. She will graduate with a degree in nursing.
She is a 2006 graduate of Flathead High School in Kalispell. “As a teenager, I dreamed of going to the University of Washington because it is ranked the best nursing school in the country,” she said. “I visited the UW when I was in tenth grade and knew immediately that this was where I wanted to go to college.”
Brosten said her decision was based not just on the quality of the academic experience available at the UW, but because of the institution’s focus on social justice issues. “I wanted to attend a university that cared about improving the health and well being of the community.”
However, because she grew up in a low-income family in rural Montana, she knew her prospects for attending the UW as an out-of-state student were slim. But she received what she termed “a miracle,” a scholarship from the Thomas A. and Mildred E. Horsman Foundation, which would pay her tuition for four years at any school in the country.
Brosten has taken advantage of the opportunities presented to her. She has been in the University Honors Program and the School of Nursing Honors Program. In her nursing senior practicum, she completed an additional 240 clinical hours in her nursing specialty, labor and delivery — more hours than are offered by any other nursing school in the country. She also completed undergraduate research projects in both nursing and chemistry.
Brosten has been a volunteer in the Harborview burn unit and pediatric intensive care unit, as well as a certified nurse aide at the Touch of Grace Free Clinic. She has tutored low-income African American children in reading and math through the Urban League, and she also works with low-income Vietnamese and Chinese preschool children at the Denise Louie Educational Center’s Head-Start program. “These children have so much potential, and I really believe that they can go so far in their lives if simply given the right resources,” she said.
Brosten plans to work as an obstetric nurse in the Seattle area and is particularly interested in working with low-income families and teenage mothers. She also plans to continue her volunteer activities. Eventually, she would like to return to the UW to pursue a doctoral degree in nursing and conduct research in birth outcomes and socioeconomic health disparities. Longer-term, she envisions herself teaching nursing at a university.
Vahora credits her UW education with motivating her to become a global citizen. She transferred to the UW from South Seattle Community College and will graduate with degrees in anthropology and public health. She is planning on attending a graduate program in health policy and management at the University of Michigan, and also plans to pursue a master’s degree in health administration. She would like a career that involves emergency response and disease surveillance in a local health department in the U.S. or abroad as a member of a health ministry.
Varhora’s decision to transfer to the UW was based in part on the fact that “the UW is a premier research university with a global perspective that no other university or college can parallel,” she said. “The UW is home to a number of researchers in the field of global health, which made my decision to attend the UW the right one. And my father is a UW alum, so I have always considered myself a Husky.”
While she was applying to the UW, she read the Common Book for 2006-07, Mountains Beyond Mountains, and was inspired by physician-medical anthropologist Paul Farmer’s work in Haiti and Peru to choose a career path that would enable her to “make a difference by reducing structural violence and supporting social justice in the Global South.”
Vahora said the diverse perspectives, values and beliefs of her professors and peers have been a key element in her UW experience. “My fellow students, faculty, and staff have provided me with an education that could not be any more engaging and insightful than it has been these last three years.” The faculty “have all been at the core of cutting edge research that is mobilizing global change. The knowledge and skills they convey to their students is truly remarkable and I am honored to have had the opportunity to study under them.”
In addition to her classroom work, Vahora served as an intern at the Refugee Women’s Alliance, coordinating the summer program for youth ages 7 to 14 who were refugees or the children of refugees. She also is the board secretary for Students in the Community, which works to improve the health of the underserved. She volunteers twice a week at the Public Health Seattle/King County Robert Clewis Center, where she performs one-for-one needle exchanges for clientele and connects them to social and health services. She also has volunteered as a pharmacy assistant, conducting blood pressure, cholesterol and body mass index screenings at the Latina Health Fair.
Brosten and Vahora will be honored along with other UW award recipients at the Awards of Excellence recognition event at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, June 10 in Meany Hall.
