Fulton Sunrise Rotary Club Grants Rosa Pappalardo Kemmis Memorial Scholarship To Karina Perez, Rodolfo Ramirez-Vasquez

by Contributor | December 10, 2021 11:36 am

FULTON – Karina Perez and Rodolfo Ramirez-Vasquez were recently awarded a Rosa Pappalardo Kemmis Memorial Scholarship from the Fulton Sunrise Rotary Club.

Perez is a freshman at Cayuga Community College and a 2020 graduate of G. Ray Bodley High School. She is pursuing a degree in medical assisting. When she was a young child her baby brother had a serious illness and required hospitalization. Her parents, who spoke Spanish, had difficulty communicating with the doctors in English. Fortunately, a nurse in the hospital was bilingual and bridged their language gap.

With her help, the doctors and her parents were able to discuss the treatment her brother needed. She has never forgotten this experience and noted that it helped to shape her education and career goals. Math and science were her favorite subjects in high school.

These, along with her memories of the nurse who assisted her parents, lead her toward a more specific interest in medical care. Her dream is to combine her fluency in English and Spanish with working as a medical assistant. When needed she hopes to help resolve language barriers, during stressful situations, like her parents faced so many years ago.

Rodolfo Ramirez-Vasquez was recently awarded a Rosa Pappalardo Kemmis Memorial Scholarship from the Fulton Sunrise Rotary Club.

Ramirez-Vasquez is a freshman at Cayuga Community College and a 2021 graduate of G. Ray Bodley High School. He came to the United States from Guatemala at the age of thirteen to live with his grandfather. When he entered junior high school Rodolfo had little knowledge of English and no friends. It took time for him to adjust and for a while he wanted to give up.

His determination to be successful fortunately kept him going. Since then, he has learned English, completed high school with honors, and started to pursue his goal of becoming a teacher. He hopes to use his experiences and language skills to help other ESL students be successful in school and pursue their dreams.

Rodolfo credits his grandfather and Fulton teachers with giving him the support he needed to work hard and constantly strive to obtain his dreams.

Source URL: https://oswegocountytoday.com/news/fulton/fulton-sunrise-rotary-club-grants-rosa-pappalardo-kemmis-memorial-scholarship-to-karina-perez/

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