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Scholarships
The Nurses Make a Difference Scholarship application period is now open for 2023.
The Nurses Make a Difference Scholarship is an annual $1,000 scholarship awarded by Cascade Healthcare Solutions to an aspiring nurse who is currently enrolled in an undergraduate nursing program at a college or university, or is a high school student who has been accepted into a school with an undergraduate nursing program.
Cascade Healthcare Solutions is excited to support individuals who have the goal to pursue one of the most essential professions in our society with the Nurses Make a Difference Scholarship. The scholarship is awarded through an essay contest, with a different essay topic each year. The aspiring nurse with the best essay as selected by our scholarship committee will receive the $1000 scholarship. The essay will be assessed based on quality, thoughtfulness, and relevance to the topic. The application deadline is annually on August 1.
Eligibility Requirements
This scholarship is available for current students in an undergraduate nursing degree program at an accredited college or university, and high school students who have been accepted into a college and plan to study nursing. All applicants must have a cumulative grade point average (GPA) of at least 3.0 and be a legal resident of the USA or hold a valid student visa. The winning applicant must provide verification of enrollment at an undergraduate school with a nursing program or acceptance into a school with an undergraduate nursing program. The winning applicant must also provide a profile photo and brief biography to be displayed on our website and social media. Employees or family members of Cascade Healthcare Solutions are not eligible to participate.
Application Deadline and Award Presentation
All applications must be received by Cascade Healthcare Solutions on August 1 by 11:59 p.m. (PT) and must be complete upon submission. The scholarship will be awarded on September 1. The winner will be notified via email or phone. A check from Cascade Healthcare Solutions will be mailed directly to the school of the winning applicant to be applied to their student account upon verification of enrollment.
Scholarship Contact Information
Phon: (877) 480-3028
Mailing Address:
Cascade Healthcare Solutions
Attn: Scholarship Committee
1035 Andover Park W, Ste 230
Tukwila, WA 98188
Past Scholarship Recipients
2022 Winner - Asteria Yiu
Asteria Yiu is a Washington native currently finishing her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at the University of Washington. She is very involved in her community serving as the director of Operation Diabetes APhA-ASP for the past 2 years, leading multiple outreach events to the greater Seattle area providing free health screening to the underserved community in collaboration with the School of Medicine and School of Dentistry at UW. Currently, she interns both at her local hospital (primarily in the ICU), and at Walgreens. She is passionate about serving her community whether it is providing screening/education for the underserved population, administering hundreds of COVID and flu vaccines at Walgreens and at immunization clinics, or working in the ICU. After graduation, Asteria hopes to match with a residency program to help strengthen her clinical skills and become an oncology pharmacist.
2022 Winner - Astrid Yiu
Asteria Yiu is a Washington native, currently finishing her Doctor of Pharmacy degree at the University of Washington. She is very involved in her community serving as the director of Operation Diabetes APhA-ASP for the past 2 years, leading multiple outreach events to the greater Seattle area providing free health screening to the underserved community in collaboration with the School of Medicine and School of Dentistry at UW. Currently, she interns both at her local hospital (primarily in the ICU), and at Walgreens. She is passionate about serving her community, whether it is providing screening/education for the underserved population, administering hundreds of COVID and flu vaccines at Walgreens and at immunization clinics, or working in the ICU. After graduation, Asteria hopes to match with a residency program to help strengthen her clinical skills and become an oncology pharmacist.
2021 Winner - Samantha Martin
Samantha Martin is finishing her BSN at Thomas Jefferson University. Shortly after getting married she became pregnant with her first child, who had a major medical condition and was given no chance at life. After seeking medical care at one of the top Children's Hospitals in the world, Samantha's son was born and thrived as his medical team navigated his complex medical conditions. During the next several months Samantha experienced the bedside medical world firsthand and saw the impact that nurses had on parents and children during their time being treated in an intensive care unit. She went on to have identical twins who were born in the second trimester, also requiring many months of intensive medical care, and was again shown the power and privilege of nursing. When her twins reached school age, Samantha decided it was time to go back to school and devote her life to giving others the gifts of comfort and care she and her children had been given during her children's time in the hospital. She hopes to have a long bedside career in pediatric nursing and also plans to pursue further schooling to become a university educator.
2020 Winner - Haley Simpson
Haley Simpson is an undergraduate nursing student at the University of Wyoming, set to graduate in May of 2021. She never anticipated a career in healthcare until she took four months to volunteer in a free medical clinic on the Baja Peninsula of Mexico back in 2016; an experience that awoke a passion in her for meeting the needs of others through the provision of healthcare. She currently works as a nursing student in both a Cardiothoracic ICU and Neonatal ICU, and served on the front lines in COVID ICUs during the pandemic. Haley hopes to gain acceptance into a critical care nurse residency to ultimately become a certified registered nurse anesthetist (CRNA)
2019 Winner - Shaquilla Gracien
Our 2019 scholarship recipient, Shaquilla Gracien, is from Boston, MA. Her interest in nursing stemmed from working as a caregiver for eight years. After graduating from Wheaton College with a degree in neuroscience, she decided to pursue a career in nursing. Her current goal is to be a Registered Nurse (RN), but her long term goal is to become a Neuroscience Nurse Practitioner. She is currently enrolled in an intensive nursing program that will give her more experience in the field and help her get closer to achieving her goals.
2018 Winner - Savannah Winters
Savannah Winters is enrolled as a nursing student at California State University East Bay. She hadn’t always wanted to be a nurse. In fact, she feared hospitals. Her perspective changed as a child when her mother was hospitalized after suffering a brain aneurysm. She witnessed the knowledge, compassion, and care that makes a great nurse. When Savannah graduates and passes her NCLEX, she hopes to be accepted into a NICU new graduate program before returning to school to obtain her master's degree and nurse practitioner's license in neonatology. She is pursuing a career in nursing not for the potential salary or title, but for the possibility of helping families like hers. Savannah feels called to be the one responsible for doing something as great as keeping hope alive for the people who feel there is none left.
2017 Winner - Abigail Mihaiuc
Abigail Mihaiuc is a nursing student at the University of Washington. As the daughter of Romanian immigrants, her parents always encouraged her to pursue her dreams and to obtain an education, which is something they didn't have the opportunity to do. She knew she wanted to be a nurse after volunteering in a hospital setting throughout high school and completed all of her nursing prerequisites and had a nursing assistant license by the time she graduated. The year after high school, she put her nursing assistant license to use and obtained a job as an Obstetric Technician in a local hospital, where her love for nursing flourished. The example set by the amazing group of people she worked with made her excited to be able to help patients in the way they did. After nursing school, her hope is to work as a trauma nurse and eventually to become an emergency nurse practitioner.