The Marie Maxey Foundation is awarding a $1,200 scholarship to cover the $50/month fees for two students needing educational support. This particular award for 2025 is under the Sylvia Ayers Memorial scholarship program, focused on Hispanic students pursuing degrees in nursing or other medical endeavors.

 

Sylvia received her Nursing education and became a Registered Nurse from Beth Israel Hospital School of Nursing in New York City, from 1930 to1933. Prior to college, Sylvia was one of seven children from a poor family, who was given $50 to travel to New York City to answer a job notice. Through that job, she put herself through school and earned her Nursing Degree. Following her graduation, she continued her work, remaining at Beth Israel Hospital where she became a highly regarded Operating Room nurse, later specializing in the Neurology Department.  In 1939, at the onset of World War II, she was called to serve in the US Army Nurse Corps at Tilton General Hospital, Fort Dix, New Jersey.  After the war, she continued as an active member of the American Red Cross.  She married and raised three daughters, two of whom followed in her footsteps to also become nurses, carrying the love of nursing and compassion for people to their patients. 

 

The purpose of these scholarships is to encourage young Latinos and Latinas in Central America and the U.S. to enroll in college nursing Degrees, or other medically-related programs to serve their communities, blessing other lives.