Momentous support to attract rural nursing students
$100,000 gift from Doreen J. Stewart helps remove barriers for rural nursing students who are compassionate and critical thinkers, creating social change by promoting health and well-being
Trent University has announced three inaugural recipients of the Doreen (Larmer) Stewart Nursing Scholarship—a new scholarship to expand support for local students from rural or farming communities who face financial barriers to an education in nursing.
Kate McFarlane, Rachel Roots, and Hannah Raymond are the first-ever recipients of a Doreen (Larmer) Stewart Nursing Scholarship, created through a $100,000 gift from Doreen J. Stewart, a retired registered nurse with strong roots in the Peterborough area.
“Thanks to Mrs. Stewart’s generosity, this scholarship will help remove barriers for students who wish to join our programs and become the nurses of tomorrow – compassionate and critical thinkers who create social change through the promotion of health and well-being,” says Dr. Hugo Lehmann, acting dean of the Trent/Fleming School of Nursing (TFSON).
Doreen’s family faced financial hardship when she was growing up in the farming community of South Monaghan largely due to medical costs for her sisters Ruth and Shirley who had juvenile diabetes in the days before national healthcare.
“It is my hope that this scholarship helps bring the best and brightest minds to study at the Trent/Fleming School of Nursing,” says Doreen. “Financial hardship should not impede the education and training of capable and compassionate people for careers in nursing, and the pandemic has shone a light on the critical importance of nursing as a career.”
Doreen was able to pursue her dream of nursing. She graduated with her registered nurse qualifications from the Peterborough Civic Hospital in 1964, Occupational Health in 1979, and General Studies, Science in 2005. Her career spanned emergency and intensive care units across Canada, U.S. and South America.
The Doreen (Larmer) Stewart Nursing Scholarship will be distributed annually, with up to three awards worth $2,500 each available for full-time nursing students in any year of study in the TFSON. The scholarship will offer financial assistance to qualified students: those with demonstrated financial need, with longstanding connections in the greater Peterborough community and surrounding rural areas, and who intend to complete a Bachelor’s degree in the study of nursing and go on to a nursing career.
The scholarship will further enhance the world-class undergraduate and graduate programs at the TFSON.
In April, the first Doreen (Larmer) Stewart Scholarships were awarded alongside 11 other awards and scholarships offered through the TFSON and made possible with the generous support of the School’s donors. Both faculty and students were honoured with TFSON awards, recognizing their especially hard work and dedication to the sector and learning over the past two years due to the demands of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Learn more about the Trent/Fleming School of Nursing, its degree programs and state-of-the-art training facilities.