HOUSTON (May 25, 2022) – The Women’s Fund for Health Education and Resiliency, a nonprofit providing Houston area women and girls with the tools needed to be advocates for their health, has announced Clements High School graduate Hannah Nguyen and Booker T. Washington Sr. High School graduate Jasmine Hayes as the two winners of its 8th Annual Barbara Devetski Scholarship Essay Contest.
Nguyen and Hayes each received a $2,500 scholarship towards tuition for the 2022 fall college semester.
“The Women’s Fund is proud to award scholarships to two resilient individuals,” said Linda Rhodes, Executive Director of The Women’s Fund. “Both recipients have used resources to build resiliency and confidence, and we celebrate them for the challenges they have overcome.”
Nguyen journey to accepting herself wasn’t easy, but with the help of educational programs, she has been able to learn about being mentally and physically safe and healthy. She has gained confidence and has had the opportunity to educate others. During her time in college, she will continue working with the LGBT+ community through community organizations and help everyone learn more about themselves.
Hayes realized what it feels like to be resilient when she started being her true self, believing in herself and accepting that people are different. With words of encouragement and love from her mom, she has the courage to embrace life’s storms. As a strong young lady, she will enter the next chapter in her life with curiosity and without fear because she knows she might bend but will never break.
The scholarship was created in loving memory of Barbara Devetski, the organization’s first Executive Director who served in that capacity for over two decades. The Women’s Fund received a record number of entries from the Houston area, college-bound, graduating high school senior girls, who plan to enroll in a minimum of nine college credit hours in the 2022 fall semester. Each participant was asked to submit an essay that included the importance of resiliency, a time or situation in which the applicant was resilient and explain what they learned from the situation and how it has prepared them for college. The winners were announced at The Women’s Fund Spring Membership Luncheon at Tony’s on Friday, May 13, 2022.
For 43 years, The Women’s Fund has educated girls and women in the Houston area through classes, workshops, lectures, and publications that teach resiliency skills and relate those skills to current and future health risks. Dedicated to ensuring positive health outcomes for individuals and communities, The Women’s Fund serves close to 12,000 women and adolescent girls and distributes over 9,000 publications each year at no cost.
About The Women’s Fund for Health Education and Resiliency
The Women’s Fund is a nonprofit dedicated to providing Houston-area women and girls with the tools they need to be advocates for their health. Since 1979, The Women’s Fund has served women and girls by providing health education community seminars, programs and publications.
The Women’s Fund collaborates with community partners to provide its programs and resources free of charge to the communities with limited access to health information. Houston area women and girls learn resiliency skills to increase self-efficiency, decision-making, goal setting, communication, and resourcefulness to be their own health advocates and ensure positive health outcomes for individuals and communities.
For more information, visitwww.womensfund.org, call 713-623-6543, or follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.