Congratulations to Jade Randall, the recipient of the 2017 Meadows Surgical Arts Surgical Hope Foundation Scholarship for Franklin County High School!
The Surgical Hope Foundation is a non-profit organization that provides outpatient surgical services at no cost to those in need. Founded by Dr. Lionel Meadows and his wife, Kathryn Meadows, RN, BSN, the Surgical Hope Foundation gives many patients the opportunity to fulfill their medical needs without the added burden of finances.
Each year, Dr. & Mrs. Meadows offer a scholarship to three graduating high school seniors to help fund their college endeavors. Each student must complete an essay describing their aspirations and goals in pursuing a medical career. This is Ms. Randall’s essay:
I have grown up hearing healthcare stories from my mom who is a nurse. This has planted a seed that has continued to grow over the years and has blossomed into me becoming a nurse practitioner. The many extracurricular activities, community involvement, and life experiences to this point in my life have contributed to my desire to be a productive member of the healthcare field.
The first aspect in my life that has helped to shape me into the person that I am today and has provided me with a set of beneficial skills, is extracurricular activities. There are several areas under the realm of extracurricular activities that have benefited me. The first one being sports. I am part of the varsity tennis and cross country teams at our high school. These sports have taught me the importance of dedication, teamwork, and perseverance. With almost any kind of sport, there is dedication involved due to having to attend practices and meets/games/matches. This is a very important trait to have when pursuing a degree such as nursing because of all the time that must be put into studying. I have also learned the importance of teamwork through being a part of these teams. Teamwork is also very important when it comes to being a nurse. You must be able to work well and cooperate with doctors, other nurses, and patients as well. I have also learned to persevere. This season alone, I have played a couple of tennis matches that have lasted approximately three hours. Also with cross country we are required to run three and a half miles. This alone takes great mental focus and perseverance. Once again, I believe this is a great trait to have when going to school to be able to get through all of the classes required that may not be so easy. The next area of activities are clubs, which include; Anchor, HOSA, FFA, Beta, and SGA. These clubs have in some way taught me the importance of community service, whether it be by doing a canned food drive or helping with an Easter egg hunt. As a part of the Beta club I have had to participate in twenty hours of community service per year. Being a member of the FFA has allowed me to become more comfortable with public speaking and gain leadership skills through being in an officer position. HOSA has allowed me to learn more about the medical field. Through the office of club president, I have enhanced my leadership & public speaking skills. All of these club experiences have taught me the power of proper communication, which will be priceless in the area of healthcare and nursing in order to provide optimal patient care.
I believe that a sense of community is really where healthcare begins. The human heart, mind and soul requires a sense of belonging and value in order to truly be healthy. Many in our society today only seek to be served but I believe that true whole health comes in providing service to others. I spend several hours a week practicing and performing with our church praise team, which is a volunteer group. I am an active member of our church youth group where we help to create joy bags for foreign mission work. We have also served in the Salvation Army kitchen in Athens. One of our major projects has been to work in a dilapidated neighborhood to restore a broken-down house back into a livable home. I am a Vacation Bible School crew leader which works with groups of ten to fifteen children in an educational setting. Our church also sponsors a back to school bash at our downtown gazebo where we donate school supplies, provide a meal, and an afternoon of fun for the people in the local community. I have always been blessed to see the smiling faces of the children and parents who receive much needed school supplies to begin the new school year. I have also served at the local animal shelter to walk dogs, bathe puppies, and clean kennels. My family and I have donated food and cleaning supplies to help offset the cost of saving the lives of lost or unwanted animals. All of these community service activities have shown me how to meet the needs of people while at the same time making them feel valued and respected.
At the age of ten I was given my first responsibility of caring for a living creature, a show pig. I had a strong desire to show pigs with the FFA but really did not understand the investment that would be needed. My parents held me to my claim that I would do the work. I soon began to realize that having a living creature dependent upon me was a monumental task. I have shown pigs every year since and helped my younger siblings learn what it takes to be responsible for a life. I believe that the valuable lessons that I have learned over the last nine years of showing will help me in the field of nursing as I am given the responsibility for the care of another human being. In the last two years, I have shadowed in several areas of healthcare. I chose to use part of my summer break to gain experience in the health field so that I could be better prepared when I went into the field of nursing. During this time, I followed Dr. Williams in the emergency room, Denis Glaude, CRNA, and Kristie Taylor who is a licensed nurse practitioner. I am currently completing my pathway in healthcare science by taking the third class, Patient Care Fundamentals. I am at this time in a rotation at Sacred Heart Hospital and Brown Memorial Convalescent Center. I have assisted with patient mobility and watched a total hysterectomy, exploratory laparoscopy with a right colectomy, and the removal of a toe bone. I am very intrigued and amazed at how the human body works and how healthcare professionals can be a part of the wonderful process of healing.
I am truly excited as I look toward the next phase of my education in the healthcare field. I will begin as a declared nursing major at the University of North Georgia in the fall of this year. I hope to pursue a license as a nurse practitioner and apply all the knowledge and skills that I have and will learn to helping others overcome the medical issues that the human body can develop. I appreciate the opportunity your foundation offers young people like me on the brink of an exciting new future.
We would like to congratulate Ms. Randall on her achievements, and wish her the very best in her future scholastic and career endeavors.
