Since 1972 the Newtown VNA has awarded more than $137,000 in scholarships to graduating high school seniors from Newtown entering the nursing field. On August 14, Thomas Murphy was awarded the $4,000 Anna E. Clow VNA Scholarship. From left are Newtown Visiting Nurse Association members Margareta Kotch, Maureen McLaughlin, and Mae Schmidle, Mr Murphy, and VNA member Alice Falkowitz. Thomas is a 2011 graduate of Newtown High School and is studying nursing at Western Connecticut State University. He has a number of nurses in his family, but became interested in the profession when his father received a brain cancer diagnosis in 2008. “While accompanying him to appointments I developed a relationship with the medical staff,” Thomas said. Through this experience, he saw where he “could make a significant difference in someone’s life, just like the nurses who cared for my dad,” he says. After a semester of clinical sessions at an area nursing home Thomas says his ambitions to pursue a nursing career are even stronger. (Hicks photo)
