Teens Honored for Commitment to Mental Health Careers
District branch past president Randy Pardell, M.D., introduces scholarship winner Ally Taveniere as someone with a “big heart,” due not only to her concern for people with mental illness, but also because of her leadership in a cardiac screening program in her community.
Photos by Eve Bender
One of A PA's district branches is pointing young people toward a career in mental health, with an innovative scholarship program that rewards high-school students for their academic excellence and desire to help those with mental health problems.
At the Mid-Hudson Psychiatric Society's annual meeting and awards dinner in June in Poughkeepsie, N.Y., the young award recipients stepped up to receive checks of $750 and the praise and encouragement of district branch officers and members.
The Herman B. Snow Memorial Scholarship Fund was established 15 years ago to honor one of the region's most distinguished psychiatrists. Snow, who died in 1987, was a forensic psychiatrist, senior director of the Hudson River Psychiatric Center in Poughkeepsie, and past president of the Mid-Hudson Psychiatric Society and the Dutchess County Medical Society. Snow's wife, Reta, created the scholarship.
For a time, only employees of the Hudson River Psychiatric Center and their relatives were eligible for the fund, but four years ago the district branch assumed responsibility for administering the scholarship and began offering it to high-school students living in four counties in the mid-Hudson area.
High school students who apply for the scholarship must write an essay about their interest in the mental health field and submit several letters of recommendation.
Mid-Hudson Psychiatric Society President Sadaf Ahsan, M.D., speaks with scholarship winner Erica Halwick about the mental health field.
According to Randy Pardell, M.D., who was president of the district branch when it took over the fund and introduced one of the scholarship recipients,“ we wanted to champion the concept of how great it is to be a psychiatrist.”
Leon Krakower, M.D., who chairs the scholarship selection committee, told Psychiatric News that “sponsoring the scholarship fund has given our district branch a sense of accomplishment and pride and a very positive image in our community.”
Snow scholarship recipient Ally Taveniere, 17, a recent graduate of Rhinebeck High School in Rhinebeck, N.Y., told Psychiatric News that she has always been interested in the factors that motivate others to think and behave in a certain way. She plans to major in psychology when she enters SUNY Binghamton in the fall.
Aside from being a straight-A student and being involved in a number of extra-curricular activities with her school, Taveniere has also spent a great deal of time participating in community service.
For instance, when a close friend died of cardiac problems last year, she co-founded a group called the Heart Safe Gang at Rhinebeck High School, which promotes education about and screening for cardiac disease.
High school graduates Erica Halwick (left) and Ally Taveniere, winners of the 2007 Herman B. Snow Memorial Scholarship Award, both expressed interest in helping people with mental illness.
“I've always been involved in art and drawing,” Taveniere said, adding that as a result of this interest she had been considering art therapy as a career option. “But after attending this dinner and talking with the psychiatrists here, I'm very much interested in pursuing psychiatry.”
Fellow Snow scholarship winner Erica Halwick, 18, would like to work on behalf of people with mental illness in the legal system. “I plan to undertake pre-law studies and advocate for people with mental illness. The Constitution guarantees all people certain rights, and sometimes these rights are overlooked when it comes to the mentally ill,” she told Psychiatric News.
Halwick, who graduated from Kingston High School in Kingston, N.Y., and is president of the Ulster County Youth Court, plans to begin a pre-law program at the University of Albany in the fall.
Although she was unable to make it to the awards dinner, Jennifer Cottenec, 18, was “thrilled” to win the scholarship, she remarked. Cottenec has been active in a mentorship program associated with her school in which she and her classmates help younger students with their homework and spend time with them after school.
Cottenec plans to study psychology at Lafayette College in Easton, Pa., in the fall. “I love helping children,” she noted. “I enjoy mentoring them and would ultimately like to help them with their problems in a professional role.”
Pfizer Inc. sponsored the award dinner. ▪
