The Asian Pacific Fund announced the selection of the four recipients of the Rachelle Cagampan Nursing Scholarship. Each student will receive $5,000 to apply towards cost of tuition to a college or university where they will pursue a degree in Nursing.

The scholarship recipients for 2009 are:

Amin Azam is a CSU–East Bay nursing major entering his fourth year in the fall. Amin is a first-generation college student who became interested in the healthcare field because his father suffers from diabetes. He is especially passionate about the role of advocacy in nursing and plans to pursue a career as an intensive-care nurse. Amin is very close to his traditional Pakistani family. When he was growing up, both his mother and father worked two jobs each to make ends meet. Amin and his wife currently live with his sister and her family. Amin maintained an impressive 3.98 GPA throughout college and will participate in a nursing internship at John Muir Hospital in the spring. 

Nara Yoon commutes from Cupertino to attend San Francisco State and also will be starting her fourth year. Nara came to the United States from South Korea when she was 14. Growing up as the primary caretaker for her grandmother and two younger sisters helped Nara realize her natural affinity for nursing. She recently completed a clinical rotation at Stanford Lucille Packard Children’s Hospital in the maternity ward and found the experience rewarding, but she noted that she prefers the challenges of acute care and plans to pursue a career in that setting. Nara earned a 3.7 in college, at the same time working to support herself and her high-school aged sister, who lives with her.

Bing Bing Zhang is a third-year student at San Francisco State . She and her family emigrated from China 10 years ago, and Bing Bing said that life for them has been much more difficult in the United States . Her parents, who were teachers in China , have had to work “ten times as hard” in the U.S. in low-wage jobs in the hopes of giving her and her two brothers the opportunity of receiving a better education. Bing Bing believes earning her nursing degree is a second chance to fulfill her educational goals, after initially dropping out of high school. She says she has found direction through her nursing studies and plans to specialize in gerontology. She cites her Asian heritage as playing a factor in her career choice, as she believes in the importance of respecting and caring for elder generations. Bing Bing has a college GPA of 3.8 and works part-time as a dental assistant to support her and her husband, who also attends school full-time. She is on track to graduate in December 2010.

Debbie Rae Nepomuceno is entering her third year at CSU–East Bay . She first discovered her passion for the nursing profession as a high-school volunteer at Sutter Memorial Hospital , where she provided therapeutic play for terminally-ill children. These experiences with Sutter’s Child Life program played a pivotal role in her decision to pursue pediatric nursing as a career. Debbie Rae is very close to her mother and actively cares for her four half-brothers from her father’s side. She is also the first in her family to attend college and will help her younger brother, who will enter San Francisco State in the fall, acclimate to college life. Debbie Rae has a college GPA of 3.4 and works part-time as a restaurant hostess to support herself and contribute financially to her mom.