This marks the tenth year that a consortium of affiliates from Partners HealthCare – MGH Charlestown HealthCare Center, MGH Institute of Health Professions, and Spaulding Rehabilitation Hospital – have awarded the Charlestown Health Care Scholarship. Since the award’s inception, over $55,000 has been awarded to 26 high school seniors living in Charlestown who plan on enrolling in a program of study leading to a health career. This year’s winners were Rory Carrier, Anna Chen, Kiley Doris, and Emily Ringrose.
Rory Carrier graduated from Malden Catholic High School, where he was a varsity athlete in football, swim, and baseball, winning the M.C. Lancers Award for Outstanding Sportsmanship. He has been a summer camp counselor for the Charlestown Boys & Girls Club, a St. Francis de Sales Alter server, and a member of the Boys & Girls Club’s Keystone Club leadership development program. Carrier became interested in physical therapy after seeing it help people get back on their feet to do what they love. He begins his college journey this fall at Stonehill College in Easton, MA to pursue a degree in Human Sciences and Physical Therapy.
Anna Chen graduated from Boston Latin Academy, where she was active in the Recycling Club and Dragon Clan Volunteering group, in addition to teaching English and math during summers at the East Boston YMCA. Chen became interested in science and the human body after seeing the need for care for those with substance abuse problems in her own neighborhood. She will attend Simmons University this fall to pursue a degree in Nursing.
Kiley Doris graduated from Snowden International High School, where she helped coach the swim team. Doris has also been active in the community as a Charlestown Boys & Girls Club staff member. She has witnessed a strong need for care for people struggling with addiction, and this led her to pursue nursing as a career, with the hope of making a difference in the Charlestown community and beyond. She will attend Simmons University this fall to pursue a degree in Nursing.
Emily Ringrose graduated from Boston Latin Academy, where she was leader of the Premedical Society and a Fellow for Peace and Nonviolence, in addition to volunteering at The Women’s Lunch Place. As a young teen she became interested in women’s health care, and soon after, she shadowed a pediatrician while in the ninth grade. In the fall, she will pursue a degree in women’s health care at Barnard College of Columbia University in New York City.
Throughout the years, the three Partners organizations have named many amazing students with diverse life experiences: for example, In 2010 , the scholarship was awarded to both a fourth-generation Charlestown native Mary Gillen, who used her award to become a respiratory therapist, and Mistral Horacius, a recent immigrant from Haiti and father of two, who used his award to become nurse practitioner.
The scholarship is even a family tradition: Current winner Rory Carrier’s sister Caitlee Carrier won the award in 2012, graduating from Elms College in Chicopee, MA, with a degree in health care management.
Recipients must demonstrate a commitment to community service in Charlestown, and winners over the past decade have served crucial roles in the community, including volunteering for Special Townies, mentoring at the Charlestown Boys & Girls Club, coaching youth sports at the Charlestown Community Center, and managing the food pantry at Harvest on Vine. We are proud to honor their community service, academic accomplishments, and career goals.